ABSTRACT
After listing the major production areas and adjusting for trade, it seems unnecessary to designate per capita consumption figures by country. Indeed, all the major consuming nations are relatively wealthy, confirming an expectation that animal protein consumption is closely associated with income. Meat consumption is typically viewed worldwide as a luxury good whose demand increases with rising incomes. Meat production fared about the same. Supplies grew by 77 percent from 1960 to 1979, but world population also advanced by a healthy 47 percent. Red meat consumption varied only slightly from the lowest income household to the highest, or only three percent. A typical stereotype of a heavy red meat consumer might be of the active rural resident with an appetite for meat to match that activity. Regionally, total red meat consumption per capita is highly uniform, with a range of only three-tenths of one pound a week.
