People around the world consume fish in their homes and restaurants with other meals. Fish is a staple food in many countries whereas in others it is just considered a type of meal. Some countries have high numbers of consumption of fish. The top consumer countries are China, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Japan.
The biggest seafood consumers per capita in the world is Iceland, where people consume an average of 91 kg of seafood per capita per year.
Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Tajikistan only have a fish consumption of less than 1 kilogram per year. Image: Statista. What is the World Economic Forum doing to help ensure global food security?
Japan is the largest consumer of salmon, prefering the sockeye salmon of the United States and Canada to all other species. Most of Japan's salmon production originates from the United States Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) fishery.
The most consumed type of meat worldwide is poultry, followed by beef, and lastly pork. The countries with the highest meat consumption per capita are Argentina, Israel, and Iceland, while India has one of the lowest levels of meat consumption per capita.
Today, Argentina eats the most beef and veal, about 39.9 kilograms per person every year. The 27 countries of the European Union and China eat the most pork, about 35.5 and 30.4 kilograms per capita, respectively. Israel eats the most poultry, at 64.9 kilograms per capita annually.
China is the ruler of the world's largest fish producer. This Panda country leaves far away from its competitors, including India with a distance of six times more. With a total global fish production of 178.8 million tons, one-third of the world's fish production comes from China.
Thailand and Vietnam are other countries that are known to have unhealthy fish farming practices as they're relatively unregulated when it comes to how they source and raise their fish.
China catches the most fish
Taking catch volumes as the benchmark, China has been the most important fishing nation for years now.
Sheep meat consumption
According to the OECD, the consumption of sheep's meat—including both lamb and mutton—is most popular in Kazakhstan, Australia, and Turkey.
The country that consumes the greatest amount of chicken is the United States. Every year, the United States consumes approximately 15,000 metric tons of chicken, placing it significantly in front of the second-place region.
In 2022, pasta consumption per capita varied significantly across countries. Italy topped the list, with its citizens consuming an average of 23 kilograms of pasta annually. Tunisia ranked second with a per capita consumption of 17 kilograms.
The top ranked country, China, accounted for 47.3 % of vegetable consumption in the world.
Based on a comparison of 165 countries in 2020, China ranked the highest in fruit consumption with 50,290 kt followed by India and Indonesia.
The International Dairy Federation estimates that France holds the title for the most cheese consumed in a year per capita, but Italy boasts a close second.
There are taboos on eating fish among many upland pastoralists and agriculturalists (and even some coastal peoples) inhabiting parts of southeastern Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, and northern Tanzania.
The biggest fish in the ocean is the Rhincodon typus or whale shark. Despite their tremendous size and intimidating appearance, whale sharks are commonly docile and approachable.
Today, bacon is enjoyed around the world, especially in Denmark, which ranks #1 in bacon consumption per capita. But that doesn't mean we don't love bacon here in the U.S. In fact, we produce more than 2 billion pounds of bacon annually and annual per capita consumption is around 18 pounds per person in the US.
According to Guinness World Records, Turkey has the largest per capita consumption of bread in the world as of 2000, with 199.6 kg (440 lb) per person; Turkey is followed in bread consumption by Serbia and Montenegro with 135 kg (297 lb 9.9 oz), and Bulgaria with 133.1 kg (293 lb 6.9 oz).
The top consumer of pork in 2021 continued to be China, taking into account its special economic regions Hong Kong, Macau, and Mainland China, whose consumptions were about 61, 52, and 37 kg/inhabitant respectively.