country	meat text	diet text
Uruguay	Uruguay's major economic downturn, beginning in 1999, is reflected through the simultaneous drop in the country's meat consumption. Per person, Uruguayans ate 45% fewer grams of meat at the foot of the recession in 2003 than at its start in 1999. 	Uruguay's economic downturn in 1999 resulted in the declining consumption of expensive animal products like meat. Households turned to less costly cereals and starchy roots to maintain their caloric intake, increasing daily calories earned from grains by 31% from 1999 to 2011.
Brazil	Brazil produces more beef than any other country. Nationally, Brazilians eat the third highest amount of meat in the world. 	Brazil is the world's largest producer of sugar, and sugar and fats make up more than a quarter of Brazilians' daily caloric intake. Brazilians consume almost as many calories in sugars and fats as they do in grains. 
China	China’s meat consumption has skyrocketed in the last few decades, both nationally and per capita. With a meat diet made up most predominantly of pork, the average person in China consumed almost 20 times more grams of pork per day in 2011 than in 1961. 	The caloric intake of the average Chinese person has more than doubled in the last 50 years, rising faster than any other country in the world. The Chinese diet has also grown increasingly varied. In China today, people eat almost twice as many grams of produce per day than the average American.
Cuba	Cuba’s meat consumption dropped in the 1990s with the loss of the country’s trading partners and the suspension of its relations with the former socialist bloc. From 1990 to 1992, the average Cuban reduced their meat intake by 36%. 	Cuba lost its primary trading partner with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, contributing to a 23% drop in daily calories from 1989 to 1993. The government was forced to diversify its agriculture and rely on more sustainable farming, consequently doubling the consumption of produce in the last 20 years.
Germany	The meat-heavy German diet reflects its age-old tradition of sausage <i>(würst)</i> making. Next to the U.S., Germany exports more pork than any other country in the world. The average German also consumes the fourth highest amount of pork per day. 	Ranking fifth globally, Germans consume more daily calories from alcohol than most other countries. Next to Belgium, Denmark, and Austria, they also consume the most calories from dairy and eggs.
Hong Kong	As it has since 1980, a spurring point for the economy, Hong Kong consumes more meat per person—both calorically and in weight—than any other nation. At 695 grams per day, people in Hong Kong eat 60% more meat than the next highest meat-eaters in New Zealand. 	Hong Kong’s diet has changed drastically in the last 50 years, with the average person eating more grams of meat per day than any other food group. The average caloric consumption per person has also increased by 26%.
India	Regardless of its fast-growing population and economy, India’s primarily Hindu and Muslim culture has influenced a largely vegetarian diet. Next to Rwanda and Ethiopia, Indians consume less meat per person than any other country. 	India’s primarily vegetarian diet has changed very little considering the country’s population has more than doubled in the last 50 years. Alongside the growth of India’s economy, the consumption of dairy, eggs, and produce has increased more than twofold.
Japan	Japan consumes more seafood per person than all other types of meat combined. National meat and fish consumption reached its peak in 1989, alongside the increased spending that took place during Japan’s bubble economy. 	As the consumption of rice has declined since 1961, Japanese are filling their plates with 79% more grams of meat, and 161% more grams of dairy and eggs. Still, the average person in Japan eats three times less dairy and eggs than the typical American. 
Kuwait	Kuwait’s meat consumption suffered a notable drop during the Gulf War from 1990 to 1991. Overall, the country has experienced one of the greatest rates of growth in meat consumption in the world. 	With the impacts of the Gulf War, the average caloric intake in Kuwait dropped by over 1,100 calories from 1989 to 1991, and the grams of food consumed were cut by 61%. Levels of produce and meat consumption declined most dramatically during the war, falling by 85% and 75% respectively.
Mexico	Technological advancements in the 1970s increased productivity in Mexico’s swine industry, enabling the country to fulfill peaking demands by 1983, when pork accounted for over 60% of the caloric intake from meat. Reduced government subsidies for feed grains combined with the devaluation of Mexican currency, however, sent the industry into a downturn lasting through the 1990s. 	As the birthplace of corn, Mexico ranks third in consuming the most maize per capita—both calorically and by weight. Mexicans also eat nearly twice as much sugar and fat today as they did 50 years ago.
North Korea	North Korea’s great famine of the 1990s is visible through the dramatic decline of its meat consumption. The 65% drop in per capita meat intake between 1989 and 1997 also reflects the loss of the country’s primary partner in agricultural trade, the Soviet Union. 	Half a century ago, nearly three-quarters of North Korea's caloric consumption was made up of grains. While the more fertile South Korea has flourished since 1961, North Koreans have had little progress in diversifying their sources of bodily fuel.
Russia	The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 precipitated a decline in meat consumption lasting almost a decade. (Note that numbers reflect the U.S.S.R. until 1991, after which Russia is used.) Of all types of meat, Russians have experienced the greatest increase in their consumption of poultry. 	The collapse of the Soviet Union led to a short decline in Russians' daily caloric consumption, which dropped by 13% from 1990 to 1992. By food source, Russians consumed 42% fewer grams of milk products per day; however the small dip in sugars and fats accounted for 58% of the overall caloric decline.
Saudi Arabia	Since establishing its financial and political power with the oil embargo in the 1970s, Saudi Arabia’s national meat consumption has grown 16 times greater than its ’73 amounts. With Islam as the official state religion, the country does not consume any pork.  	Saudi Arabians’ caloric intake reached an all-time low during the Arab oil embargo from 1973 to 1974, dropping to just 1,679 calories per day. With the country’s rapid economic growth since the ’73 oil crisis, however, caloric intake has nearly doubled, and the contents of a typical plate have grown both in size and diversity.
Somalia	Somalia has the smallest caloric consumption per person in the world, 7% of which consists of meat. Of the meat consumed, Somalis mainly eat mutton and goat. 	At just 1,695 calories per day, Somalis have the lowest caloric consumption of any other population. Milk products make up more than half of their daily food intake.
South Korea	Contrary to North Korea, the more fertile South Korea has seen tremendous growth in its meat consumption. While the country eats more seafood than any other type of meat, South Koreans receive more daily calories from pork. 	South Korea experienced a rapid shift in diets beginning in the 1970s. As more animal products and produce were added to the plate, the proportion of calories earned from grains dropped from 76% to 43%.
Spain	Spain is the second largest producer of pork in the EU, and national consumption has grown over ninefold in the last 50 years. 	Spain's Mediterranean-inspired diet consists of more grams of produce, milk, and meat than it does grains. In fact, Spain ranks seventh in the world in consuming the fewest calories from grains.
United States	Second to China, the U.S. consumes more meat than any other country. Poultry has been the fastest growing meat of choice in the last 50 years, as consumption has increased by more than 400% while beef has grown only by 50%. 	The U.S. is the world's top oilseed producer, followed by Brazil, China, Argentina, and India. People in the U.S. consume more than two and a half times as many grams of vegetable oil per day than they did 50 years ago, accounting for more than half of the 26% increase in calorie consumption. Americans rank fourth globally in per person caloric intake.
Vietnam	Vietnam’s political and economic reforms in 1986 transformed the formerly impoverished country to a lower middle-income nation, enabling households to spend more of their income on costlier animal products. The average Vietnamese consumes more than three times as many grams of meat per day today than in 1986. 	Though considered one of the poorest nations 50 years ago, Vietnam’s rising economy has allowed its citizens to diversify the contents of their daily diets. While grain consumption has remained relatively unchanged, the average Vietnamese has incorporated 45% more grams of produce and over three and a half times more animal products into their daily menu.
Argentina	Even with a 34% decline in consumption over the last 50 years, Argentines eat more grams of beef per day than any other country. While consumption is just 15% higher than the next greatest beef-eaters, Argentines' caloric intake from beef is more than double that of any other nation. 	Argentines are eating roughly the same amount of meat today as they were 50 years ago, though the caloric intake from meat has dropped by 12%. The reduction in calories can be attributed to the growing popularity of poultry and the decrease in beef consumption.
Libya	Libya’s burgeoning oil industry funded the arid country’s escalating food import bills in the 1960s and '70s. When the U.S. prohibited Libyan oil imports in 1982 and banned all trade by 1986, the country experienced a harsh shock to its economy, and consequently its meat consumption. From 1984 to 1990, Libyans’ meat intake dropped by more than 50%.	Libyan caloric consumption more than doubled with the rise of the country's oil industry in the 1960s and '70s. With the collapse of oil prices in the 1980s alongside the U.S. ban of Libyan oil imports in ‘81, the country’s oil-driven economy struggled to pay its expanding agricultural import bills. In just five years, Libya’s grain consumption dropped by 60%.
Australia	In the 1960s Australians ate more mutton and goat than any other type of meat. After the introduction of larger breeds of cattle, beef production and consumption rose rapidly in the 1970s. Australians nearly doubled their daily beef intake from 1974 to 1978. By the 1980s however, changing social attitudes and fluctuations in the industry led to a 15% decline in the two years following peak consumption. 	While Australians eat more dairy and produce than any other food group, they receive most of their caloric intake from sugars, fats, and grains.
United Kingdom	The consumption of poultry in the United Kingdom has increased more than fivefold in the last 50 years. While pork was formerly the meat of choice, people in the U.K. now consume 15% more poultry than pork. 	People in the U.K. eat roughly the same amount of dairy and eggs today as they did 50 years ago, yet the caloric intake from those animal products has declined by 33%. The drop in calories is mainly due to the reduced consumption of butter, ghee, cream, and animal fats. 
World	Global meat consumption per person has nearly doubled since 1961. Interact with the charts to see how each country or region’s meat-eating patterns have evolved. <div class="inline-button" data-opt="unit" data-val="tons">Total tons</div> depict national consumption, often reflecting population growth or larger industry changes. <div class="inline-button" data-opt="unit" data-val="kcal">Caloric</div> and <div class="inline-button" data-opt="unit" data-val="grams">weight</div> intakes demonstrate the daily distribution of meat consumed throughout a population, and trends often align with larger political and economic events.	Daily diets vary considerably around the world. Select different countries or regions to see how consumption patterns have changed in the last 50 <div class="inline-button" data-opt="year" data-val="1961">years.</div> Click on <div class="inline-button" data-opt="unit" data-val="grams">grams</div> to understand the quantities of food consumed per person in each place. Alternatively, view the breakdown by <div class="inline-button" data-opt="unit" data-val="kcal">calories</div> to measure how that balance of food translates into fuel and energy. Percentages in the pie chart reflect the proportion of each item in the overall diet.