Every year, around 7 billion male chicks are killed worldwide, which corresponds to the population of the planet.
As of 2015, this number was 7 billion, and it is likely higher now.
Since males cannot lay eggs, they become unnecessary in production and are killed shortly after sex determination, which occurs a few days after hatching.
However, a number of countries, such as Germany, France, and Italy, have already enacted laws prohibiting this practice.
In the U.S., about 9 billion broilers are hatched each year (and around 65.8 billion worldwide). Virtually all of these chicks are intended for meat production, except for those that do not survive to slaughter. On average, about 25 million chickens die each day in the U.S. Suppliers report weights that can vary from live weight to carcass weight, which only accounts for edible parts.
Additionally…
Every day, over 150 million land animals are killed for food, totaling about 56 billion land animals per year. If we also consider fish caught in the wild and on farms, approximately 3 billion animals are killed daily.
In the U.S., 9 billion chicks are hatched each year, which later grow to sizes suitable for human consumption. Animal suffering is a direct consequence of meat consumption, but there are also unintended consequences.
On commercial farms, between 37 and 120 billion fish die each year, and about 2.7 trillion wild-caught fish also perish. Fish on fish farms are virtually unprotected.
