The world produced 128.3 million tonnes of chicken meat in 2024, more than the 125.4 million tonnes of pork and nearly twice the 69.7 million tonnes of beef, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Five new charts rank the biggest producers of beef, pork, chicken, eggs and honey.
The United States leads beef and chicken, China leads pork
The United States produced the most beef, 12,290 thousand tonnes, ahead of Brazil with 10,238 thousand, as the beef production chart shows. It also led the chicken meat chart with 20,177 thousand tonnes, ahead of China and Brazil. Pork is a different story: in the pork production chart, China produced 45.5 per cent of the world's pork, 4.5 times as much as the United States.
Eggs and honey
China also dominates the egg production chart with 32.9 per cent of the world's hen eggs by weight, followed by India with 8,102 thousand tonnes. In the honey production chart, China made 444,800 tonnes, 22.4 per cent of the world total of 1,987,520 tonnes.
Growth from 2023
World output of all five products grew in 2024. Beef rose 3.3 per cent, chicken 2.9 per cent, pork 0.6 per cent, eggs 1.7 per cent and honey 1.4 per cent. Each chart lists the top 25 countries, so it also shows the second tier: Argentina is fourth in beef, Spain fourth in pork and Indonesia third in eggs.
| Chart | Top | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Beef Production by Country 2024 | United States | 12,290 kt |
| Pork Production by Country 2024 | China | 57,060 kt |
| Chicken Meat Production by Country 2024 | United States | 20,177 kt |
| Egg Production by Country 2024 | China | 30,857 kt |
| Honey Production by Country 2024 | China | 444,800 t |
How the numbers were checked
We cross-checked the meat charts against the US Department of Agriculture, which ranks the same top three countries for beef, pork and chicken. Its US beef total, 12,291 thousand tonnes, and its pork totals for China and the United States match FAO's. Two things to keep in mind: FAO's "China" row also includes Taiwan and Hong Kong, so these charts use mainland China; and India is missing from the beef chart because FAO counts its buffalo meat separately. Some figures are FAO estimates or imputations rather than official national data. For another look at global food production, see how the world now farms more seafood than it catches.