Meat consumption is related to living standards, diet, livestock production and consumer prices, as well as macroeconomic uncertainty and shocks to GDP. Compared to other commodities, meat is characterised by high production costs and high output prices. Meat demand is associated with higher incomes and a shift - due to urbanisation - to food consumption changes that favour increased proteins from animal sources in diets. While the global meat industry provides food and a livelihood for billions of people, it also has significant environmental and health consequences for the planet. This indicator is presented for beef and veal, pig, poultry, and sheep. Meat consumption is measured in thousand tonnes of carcass weight (except for poultry expressed as ready to cook weight) and in kilograms of retail weight per capita. Carcass weight to retail weight conversion factors are: 0.7 for beef and veal, 0.78 for pigmeat, and 0.88 for both sheep meat and poultry meat.
