Who eats more meat? Chinese or Americans?
October 08, 2026 | Read online
The World's Biggest Meat Eaters, Ranked
World Population Review
1. The World's Biggest Meat Eaters
FAO data compiled by World Population Review shows just how wide the gap is between the world's heaviest and lightest meat eaters.
🇹🇴 Tonga leads the world at 147.7 kilograms of meat per person each year.
🇲🇳 Mongolia follows at 131.78 kg, ahead of 🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines at 124.35 kg.
🇭🇰 Hong Kong and 🇺🇸 the United States come next at 123.36 kg and 122.8 kg.
At the other end of the scale, the average person in 🇧🇮 Burundi eats just 3.68 kg a year.
🍽️ The detail that stands out: the average Tongan eats about 40 times as much meat as the
average Burundian.
2. China's Enormous Appetite for Pork
When it comes to total volume, one country dwarfs the rest in pork.
🇨🇳 China consumed about 57.3 million tonnes of pork in 2022.
🇺🇸 The United States came a distant second at 10.1 million tonnes, followed by 🇷🇺 Russia at 4.3 million.
🇧🇷 Brazil, 🇩🇪 Germany, and 🇻🇳 Vietnam each consumed between 3.2 and 3.5 million tonnes.
Per person, though, Europe leads: 🇭🇷 Croatia tops the world at 57.39 kg, with 🇪🇸 Spain close behind at 56.5 kg.
🐖 Notice this: China eats more pork than the next nine countries on the list combined.
3. Argentina Falls Out of Love With Beef
Few countries are as closely tied to beef as Argentina — but its appetite is shrinking.
🇦🇷 In the late 1950s, Argentines ate nearly 100 kg of beef per person each year.
📉 By 2024, that had fallen to 47 kg — a historic low.
A modest rebound followed in 2025, to an estimated 50 kg — still about half the level of the 1950s.
Chicken and pork have gained ground, and more than one in ten Argentines now say they don't eat meat at all.
🥩 Even so: at 50 kg, the average Argentine still eats several times more beef than most Europeans or Asians.
4. What's on America's Plate
The United States remains one of the world's great meat-eating nations — and chicken now rules the plate.
🐔 Americans had 102.7 pounds of chicken available per person in 2025.
🐄 Beef came next at 58.5 pounds, followed by pork at 49.7 pounds and turkey at 13 pounds.
Altogether, red meat and poultry availability reached about 226 pounds per person in 2025, with 227 pounds projected for 2026.
Chicken availability has grown for many years, while turkey sank to a low in 2025.
📊 The takeaway: Americans now eat nearly as much chicken as beef and pork combined.
5. Chicken Conquers the World
Poultry is becoming the planet's meat of choice — and some countries eat a remarkable amount of it.
🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines leads the world at 94.06 kg of chicken and poultry per person each year.
🇹🇴 Tonga follows at 90.61 kg, ahead of 🇲🇭 the Marshall Islands at 74.75 kg.
🇼🇸 Samoa comes next at 73.98 kg, with 🇮🇱 Israel at 70.83 kg — the highest outside the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Small island nations dominate the top of the list.
🌴 Worth a closer look: the average person in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines eats more than 25 times as much poultry as the average Burundian eats meat of any kind.
6. Where the Next Wave of Meat Is Headed
The OECD and FAO expect the world to keep eating more meat over the next decade.
🌐 Global meat consumption is projected to grow by 47.9 million tonnes by 2034.
🐓 Poultry is expected to account for 28.5 million tonnes of the growth in production — and 45% of all meat protein consumed worldwide by 2034.
🌏 Asia will account for 55% of the growth in meat production, led by China, India, and Vietnam.
By contrast, per-person consumption in Canada and the European Union is projected to stagnate or decline.
🔭 Looking ahead: the future of meat is being decided in Asia — and it looks a lot like chicken.
7. The Protein Gap
Rising meat consumption isn't spread evenly — and in the poorest countries, many people still get far too little.
📈 In lower-middle-income countries, intake of animal-source foods is projected to grow 24% by 2034, nearly four times the global average.
🍳 That would bring average daily intake to 364 calories — above the 300-calorie benchmark the FAO uses for a healthy diet.
📉 In low-income countries, intake is projected to average just 143 calories a day — less than half that benchmark.
Overall, per-person calories from livestock and fish products are expected to rise 6% worldwide over the decade.
⚖️ Reality check: even a decade from now, people in the poorest countries are projected to get less than half the animal-source food a healthy diet calls for.
The world's meat map is shifting. Pacific islands and the Americas still eat the most per person, China dominates total demand, and chicken is quietly winning almost everywhere.
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