How Many Chickens Are in the World and the US? 2023

The chicken is “set to play an epoch-defining role for humanity,” reads an article in The Guardian. This is because billions of chickens’ bones, and eventually fossils, will become the global physical evidence that represents a new geological age: the Anthropocene, or the era in which humans dominated the planet.

How many chickens are in the world?

In 2020, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the global chicken population was over 33 billion. (Note that this number represents chickens alive at any given time; not the total number of chickens raised for food that year—which is even higher.) The global chicken population has dramatically increased from 1990, when chickens numbered 10.62 billion. So why has the global number of chickens increased so drastically?

To understand why the world’s chicken population has skyrocketed, it’s important to understand the difference between broiler chickens and egg-laying hens. In the 1920s, farmers in the United States raised chickens just for their eggs, only slaughtering chickens for meat when they became too old for laying. That was the case until Cecile Steele came along. A farmer living in Delaware, Steele received a delivery of 500 baby chicks one day instead of the 50 she had ordered. She decided to raise the chickens specifically for meat. Today, Steele is credited with starting the modern “broiler industry,” or the practice of raising chickens just for their meat.

When factory farming took off after World War II, to make the process of raising chickens even more efficient, humans began selectively breeding chickens specifically for either meat or egg production. Today, there are modern “broiler chickens”—selectively bred to grow very large, very quickly—and there are “layer hens,” bred to lay far more eggs than they would naturally.

Because of these hyper-efficient, industrialized farming methods, chicken production has become the top source of meat raised around the world. But this access to cheap chickens and eggs comes at a steep expense. It costs us the health of our planet, the safety of industry workers, and the terrible suffering of billions of animals.

Where are chickens mostly found in the world?

Most of the world’s chickens are found in China, the world’s leading egg producer. It’s followed by Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, and the United States—which is the world’s leading producer of broiler chickens. The vast majority of these chickens are living on factory farms, a modern industrial method of raising farmed animals. Also known as “confined animal feeding operations,” these facilities are designed to churn out as many animals as possible, as fast as possible—for as much profit as possible.

Because of the different lifespans that broiler chickens and egg-laying hens have on factory farms, understanding the true population of chickens in the world is complicated. When we talk about “population,” we’re discussing the number of animals alive at any given time. This means the number of living egg-laying hens and the number of living broiler chickens—which is different from the total number of chickens who are raised and slaughtered in a year.

While China has the largest population of chickens, most of these chickens are egg-laying hens, who have a lifespan of 18-24 months on factory farms. The majority of chickens alive in the US are broiler chickens, who have a lifespan of just 42 days on factory farms.

Broiler chickens are housed in huge warehouse facilities, tightly crowded together for the entirety of their short lives. Selectively bred to reach market weight unnaturally fast, they suffer from muscle myopathies, deformities, and poor foot health, leaving many unable to walk or even stand. After an average of just 47 days of life, most of them endure the horrific process of live-shackle slaughter—a method in which birds are hung upside down, submerged into an electrified bath, slit by the throat, and then immersed in boiling water. Live-shackle slaughter is standard practice and currently fully legal in the US. Over 90% of birds are slaughtered this way.

Laying hens don’t have it any better. The majority are confined to battery cages, stuffed into barren wire crates that are only a few feet wide and about 15 inches tall. Crowded with 4-10 other birds, each hen has a space smaller than a sheet of A4 paper—too small to even spread her wings. Cages cause a wide array of debilitating physical conditions and prevent chickens from engaging in most of their natural behaviors, including nesting behaviors, perching, roosting, dust-bathing, foraging, and exploring.

How many chickens are in the US?

In 2020, the US raised a total of 9.22 billion broiler chickens over the course of the year. Since chickens are slaughtered at about 42 days old, this means ~1.2 billion broiler chickens are alive in the US at any given time. When we add the number of egg-laying hens in the US (374 million), we get a US population of ~1.5 billion chickens.

The reason we don’t see these billions of chickens is simple: They’re packed tightly into huge warehouses, hidden away from the general public. Contrary to what most product packaging would have you believe (with pictures of red barns, illustrations of healthy-looking birds, and phrases like “happy hens”), the vast majority of chickens in the US are raised on factory farms and subjected to abuses throughout their lives.

Crowding chickens into such unnatural conditions gives rise to many abnormal behaviors. For example, chickens peck at food and other objects up to 15,000 times every day—a natural behavior that quickly turns ugly on overcrowded factory farms. To prevent birds from pecking each other to death, the industry uses a practice called “debeaking,” in which they sear off the tip of each chicken’s sensitive beak with a hot machine blade. The process is just as painful as it sounds, and it can cause chronic pain throughout a chicken’s life. All this could be avoided by simply giving chickens more freedom, space, and “environmental enrichment”—such as access to pecking materials, dust bathing areas, nesting boxes, and places to perch.

Chicken production by state

In 2021, Iowa had the highest numbers of laying hens, at 48.88 million. It’s closely followed by Indiana and Ohio, which had 35.4 million and 35.1 million laying hens in 2021, respectively. Pennsylvania, Texas, and Georgia are also leading egg producers. Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas produced the largest numbers of broiler chickens—at 1.3 billion, 1.17 billion, and 1.05 billion respectively.

Unfortunately, while the industry paints factory farming as a boon to rural communities, the facilities where chickens are raised often have grim impacts on their surrounding towns. Small farmers, many of whom have farmed for generations, have difficulty competing with the low prices and high volumes that CAFOs provide. As a result, even though the number of animals on US farms has skyrocketed, the number of farms housing these animals has dramatically decreased. Factory farms provide fewer jobs and negatively impact other businesses operating in rural areas, creating a vacuum in once-thriving communities.

How many pet chickens are in the world?

According to the American Pet Producers Association, about 10 million US households had backyard chickens in 2018. That’s about 8% of all households in the US.

How many chickens are killed a day in the world?

In 2018, factory farms around the world slaughtered 68,795,221,000 broiler chickens for their meat. On average, this comes out to 188,480,057 chickens every single day. That’s almost two hundred million animals who were bred for human consumption, spent their lives suffering, and were killed at just a few weeks old.

Chicken facts and statistics

How many breeds of chickens are there in the world?

The true number of chicken breeds in the world is actually unknown! There are hundreds of large chicken breeds recognized by the American Poultry Association, with many additional “bantam” or small chicken breeds. (It’s important to note that animal welfare is not a primary concern of this organization.)

However, the majority of chickens raised for meat on US factory farms are a hybrid breed between Cornish hens and Plymouth Rocks. These hybrids are selectively bred for the ability to produce larger pectoral muscles, or white breast meat, which is in high consumer demand.

As for layer hens, Hybrid White Leghorns are the breed commonly seen in factory farms. These chickens can lay up to 300 eggs in their first year. Sadly, although wild chickens can live for more than a decade, layer hens on factory farms generally only live for a year.

US per capita egg consumption

In 2020, US residents ate 286.5 eggs per capita—baked into pastries, scrambled with a side of toast, or slapped onto drive-through breakfast sandwiches. That’s a lot of eggs. To meet demand, US production of table eggs totaled 84.78 billion from January through November of 2022.

Eggs have long been heralded as an affordable, healthy source of protein. The thing is, they’re really not very good for us. Most of the plant-based sources of protein waiting patiently in the pantry, like nuts and chickpeas, are significantly cheaper and healthier. Plus, they’re much more resilient in the face of inflation.

US per capita chicken consumption

In 2022, US residents consumed 97.7 pounds per capita of meat from broiler chickens. This represents a massive increase from 1960, when Americans consumed only 23.6 pounds of meat from broiler chickens each year. In short, per capita chicken consumption has tripled. “Cheap” chicken has become Americans’ meat of choice—with billions of animals, industry workers, countless communities, and our planet bearing the cost.

Are there wild chickens in the world?

Chickens on factory farms are actually descended from a wild chicken called the red junglefowl. Native to Asia and southeast Asia, these chickens are still found in many areas of the world—never having been domesticated by humans. You can find red junglefowl in these countries:

• Bangladesh
• Cambodia
• Vietnam
• Thailand
• Bermuda
• Singapore
• Pakistan
• Malaysia
• Nepal
• Indonesia
• China

What is the chicken to human ratio?

In 2020, there were over 33 billion chickens in the world—and there were only 7.76 billion humans. This means there are over four chickens for every person in the world!

Conclusion

Chickens are deeply emotional, intelligent, and curious animals who build strong bonds and connections with each other. In fact, studies have shown that chickens experience social contagion—or what we know as “empathy,” the ability to understand and be influenced by the feelings of others. This means chickens feel distressed when they see other chickens in distress, even when they’re safe. According to a 2015 study, young chicks can even learn and later recognize human faces.

It’s past time we start treating these wonderful animals with the respect, compassion, and dignity they deserve. Luckily, the global movement to end the worst abuses chickens face—including extreme confinement and live-shackle slaughter—is only growing. If you’re horrified by the abuses pushed by the factory farming industry, add your voice today. Together, we can create a brighter world for chickens.