Regionally, Asia is the largest meat producer, accounting for around 40-45 percent of total meat production. This regional distribution has changed significantly in recent decades. In 1961, Europe and North America were the dominant meat producers, accounting for 42 and 25 percent, respectively. In 1961, Asia produced only 12 percent. By 2013, Europe and North America’s share had fallen to 19 and 15 percent, respectively.

This reduction in production share was despite a large increase in production in absolute terms: Europe’s meat output has approximately doubled over this period, whilst North American output has increased 2.5-fold. Production increases in Asia, however, have been staggering: meat production has increased 15-fold since 1961.

Absolute increases in production in other regions have also been substantial, with output in all regions (with exception to the Caribbean which approximately tripled) growing more than 5-fold over this period.

In the scatterplot we see the relationship between per capita meat supply (on the y-axis) and average GDP per capita (on the x-axis). What we see is a strong positive relationship: the richer a country is, the more meat the average person typically eats.

If you press ‘play’ on the interactive chart you can see the trajectory of each country over time. Overall, countries tend to shift upwards and to the right: getting richer and eating more meat.