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Countries Which Eat the Most Beef

Can you name the twenty countries whose populations consume the most beef and buffalo meat per person?
Data for the year 2020. Source: ourworldindata.org
Color coded by continent
Quiz by Zaquking
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Last updated: November 6, 2023
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First submittedJanuary 2, 2020
Times taken42,907
Average score55.0%
Rating4.39
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kg
Country
47.1
Argentina
40.1
Zimbabwe
37.3
United States
36.8
Australia
35.3
Brazil
31.6
Uzbekistan
27.4
Canada
kg
Country
27.1
Chad
26.9
Israel
26.4
Mongolia
26.3
Kazakhstan
25.8
Tajikistan
25.5
Luxembourg
25.2
Armenia
kg
Country
24.2
Denmark
23.6
Paraguay
23.4
Chile
22.6
Malta
21.9
Sweden
21.1
Bolivia
+2
Level 71
Jan 7, 2020
Good quiz, I missed a couple that I should have got. Missed Israel but remembered afterwards the 'Reuben Sandwich'.
+26
Level 74
Jan 8, 2020
I've never seen Reuben Sandwich offered anywhere in Israel - it's a New York thing and the mix of cheese and beef is a no-no here.

I only guessed Israel because I live there. We eat a lot of chicken and turkey, but beef - not so much, so I was surprised.

+3
Level 77
Jan 8, 2020
Thou shalt not boil a (calf) in its mother's milk?
+2
Level 81
Jan 11, 2020
So there are no cheeseburgers in Israel? I was under the impression that Israel offers a lot of treyf dishes, despite the influence of the more observant portion of the populace.
+4
Level 72
Feb 24, 2020
Israeli here :)

There are alot of places that sells cheeseburgers here

+3
Level 84
Feb 12, 2021
Guessed Israel, assuming it offset the lack of pork consumption. But not sure if there's a lot of land there to graze cattle. Not like in USA, Australia and the Pampas. Maybe it's imported?
+5
Level 65
Jan 8, 2020
Feels like time is too long. I didn't get them all but had plenty of time for random guessing.
+3
Level 84
Jan 8, 2020
So, top 7 are countries with a deeply ingrained culture of asado/barbecue (I don't know about No. 8, but if they do, that would change "top 7" for "top 9").
+1
Level 62
Jan 9, 2020
US ahead of Australia and New Zealand? Seems bizarre.
+1
Level 82
Jan 11, 2020
I was surprised to read that. I had thought I'd read somewhere that Australia was number 3, just behind Uruguay and Argentina, but it might be old info. I know chicken consumption has been on the rise in Australia for about three decades, supplanting the more traditional beef and lamb of the Australian diet of the past. NZ beef consumption, I imagine, is offset by both a similar rise in chicken consumption and an even greater historical preference for lamb.
+8
Level 75
Jan 12, 2020
McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Whataburger, In and Out, Fuddrucker's, Culver's, Steak 'n' Shake, Sonic, Carl's Jr/Hardy's, Taco Bell...that's a lot of beef consumed every day in the US in addition to what's cooked at home. We also eat very little lamb here, although we eat a lot of pork to make up for it.
+4
Level ∞
Apr 7, 2021
Excess sugar consumption is more likely to cause diabetes than butter-dipped meat.
+4
Level 79
Nov 6, 2023
Well, yeah. Butter-dipped meat is more likely to cause heart problems.
+1
Level 66
May 20, 2021
I'd guess the average NZer has beef, chicken, pork, and fish way more than lamb, apart from roast dinners I don't even see lamb at all really. most restaurants seem to be beef, chicken and fish options, with beef being the most common
+1
Level 83
Dec 20, 2022
Fast food chains in the USA have historically had swathes of rainforest cut down just to farm cattle. I'm not surprised at all.
+5
Level 46
Feb 22, 2020
Very weird combination of countries. Have doubt about the accuracy.
+8
Level 82
Feb 22, 2020
what's weird about it? seems pretty legit to me
+10
Level 82
Feb 22, 2020
I mean... Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil... everyone knows this region produces a ton of beef and leather. More cows down there than anywhere. The USA, Australia, and Mexico are also famous for their beef industries so they show up. Israel - I think they eat more lamb and chicken than beef, but they don't eat much pork so that's why I guessed them. Eastern Europe eats a ton of meat but mostly pork and chicken, however Bosnia and Kazakhstan peek through. Central Asians I knew eat horse and buffalo meat but wasn't surprised to see one show up with beef, too. South Korea was traditionally very vegetarian but last few decades they've added a lot of animal protein to their diet and due to Japanese and American influences that's mostly in the form of beef, chicken, fish, and squid. Then there are some geographically proximate/culturally similar countries... after that I just started guessing countries that were wealthy since those have more to spend on meat, that's how I got Kuwait and Switzerl
+3
Level 82
Feb 22, 2020
and. And finally picked up South Africa just on a guess. I figured the Boer farmers that colonized the country probably found good grazing land there, being similar in climate and topography to some of the South American countries famous for their beef.
+1
Level 70
Apr 7, 2021
Yes. How is USA on list and Canada not? Last country on list is barely more than half of US's consumption. Puzzling.
+2
Level 68
Sep 17, 2021
According to the Canadian Cattlemen Association, the average Canadian in 2019 consumed about 18 kilos of beef a year. This number matches the 18.13 kg figure from FAO from 2017.
+6
Level 82
Feb 22, 2020
And this gets featured before my pork quiz from years ago. :( Clear anti-pork bias on this website...
+2
Level 82
Feb 24, 2020
I love me some pork belly or some spare ribs as much as the next guy, but not gonna lie, once you've sat down at a Buenos Aires parrilla and had some bife de chorizo with chimichurri sauce.... I've forgotten where I was going with this and my keyboard's getting covered in drool. I'm... I'm off to the butcher.
+15
Level 67
Feb 22, 2020
*Facepalm* my first guess was India
+2
Level 32
Feb 24, 2020
weird
+9
Level 58
Apr 15, 2020
b r u v why did i guess india first
+2
Level 52
Jan 23, 2021
Because you thought it would be an answer.
+2
Level 75
Apr 8, 2021
I typed India about a minute into the quiz just because my silly brain was nagging me to do it.
+4
Level 65
Feb 12, 2021
First person to take the quiz after the reset. I can tell because I only got 13, but I beat 100% of quiz takers and the average score is 13. 5 points for me!
+1
Level 75
Feb 12, 2021
Fourth person after it reset because all the %'s are 50, 75, and 100.
+9
Level 88
Feb 13, 2021
Central African Republic?

Lol, can anyone explain?

+4
Level 72
Feb 13, 2021
There's been a vicious war going on there for awhile -- so, does cannibalism count?
+5
Level 79
Feb 17, 2021
The data used for the quiz appears to be that of beef + buffalo produced for consumption, rather than actually consumed. Roughly 50% of CAR exports are to France, so while they might produce a good amount of beef locally, I'm not convinced that the local population can afford to eat it - rather it gets exported to France or elsewhere. Think the data source might not be the most appropriate measure of consumption, although I don't have alternate suggestion.
+3
Level 75
Nov 6, 2023
Thanks for that, I was seriously doubting the universe and all around after seeing that Zimbabweans eat 40.5 kgs of beef per year right behind Argentina and manage to be severely malnourished
+2
Level 87
Feb 13, 2021
Kind of surprised that Canadian diets are THAT different from US diets, that they eat less than half the amount of meat per capita up north.
+8
Level 82
Feb 13, 2021
Beef, not meat.
+2
Level 63
Feb 23, 2021
I haven't been to Canada but I can imagine that venison might be quite popular. And seafood in coastal areas or near lakes.
+1
Level 45
Apr 6, 2021
I'm still super shocked we didn't make the list! That was my first guest all though now that I think about it I probably eat beef once every other week. I'm from Alberta and bison burgers are quite popular in restaurants. :)
+4
Level 71
Feb 13, 2021
CAR?
+1
Level 45
Apr 6, 2021
What are they doing in Argentina? lmao almost double the US
+2
Level 45
Apr 6, 2021
Argentina is widely known for its barbeque and beef consumption.

Asada, Bife de Chorizo, etc. some of the best beef in the world is down in the South American cone.

+1
Level 51
Jun 16, 2021
In Argentina it isn´t a meal if there isn´t meat, I'm actually surprised consumtion is that low
+1
Level 45
Apr 7, 2021
I thought that "US" worked as an abbreviation for United States in these quizzes? Doesn't it??
+2
Level 68
Apr 7, 2021
"USA" does but not "US"
+1
Level 29
Apr 7, 2021
Not Canada? That's bizarre.
+2
Level 79
Apr 8, 2021
Central African Republic eh? I doubt
+3
Level 40
May 3, 2021
Central african republic?!?
+1
Level 77
Jan 20, 2022
I only got CAR because the answer box was so long. I tried UAE and Micronesia first though. Seems like a REALLY odd inclusion.
+1
Level 75
May 17, 2023
lol I literally guessed CAR as a joke but it somehow ended up being on the list
+1
Level 15
Aug 18, 2023
Please update this quiz.
+5
Level 59
Sep 18, 2023
Looks like there's quite a bit of beef in the comments section
+1
Level 56
Oct 23, 2023
you are telling me there is no monaco, andorra, san marino & liechtenstein that are all very developped country with very small population in a list of the country with most per capita consumption of a meat ?
+2
Level 79
Nov 6, 2023
If you look at the source data, those countries aren't included in the dataset, not sure why. Your reasoning for why they might be on here seems unconvincing to me.
+2
Level 80
Nov 6, 2023
Interesting that Uruguay doesn’t make this list considering it has the highest number of cattle per capita. According to the source, their consumption has gone down pretty dramatically. Anybody know the reason for that?
+2
Level 87
Nov 7, 2023
Also considering that previous comments (about CAR, no longer on here) indicate that these figures are production, not internal consumption. Why would Uruguayan production be so far down? Gotta be something off...
+1
Level 76
Nov 8, 2023
Your source has Turkmenistan (21.7 kg per capita) higher than Bolivia (21.12 kg per capita) but it doesnt make the list.
+1
Level 33
Dec 28, 2023
This was really tough for some reason, beef is very worldwide and not region-specific
+1
Level 43
Dec 28, 2023
Anybody able to identify a pattern as to why all of these countries are on this list?
+1
Level 51
Jan 3, 2024
Countries *that* eat the most beef. Less awkward.