A Survey on Inter-animal Welfare Comparisons

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Abstract According to a survey among a representative sample of the Belgian population, most people believe that farmed animals like chickens have the same capacity for suffering as humans, and that most farmed land animals (broiler chickens) have negative welfare levels (i.e., experience more suffering than happiness). The suffering of a farmed land animal, estimated by people, is equal in size to the positive welfare of a human (in Belgium) whereas the welfare level of a wild bird is zero on average. As there are more farmed animals than humans in the world, and the populations of small farmed animals (chickens, fish, shrimp and insects) are increasing, most people would have to come to the conclusion that net global welfare (of humans, farmed animals and wild animals combined) is negative and declining. People who care about global welfare should therefore strongly prioritize decreasing animal farming and improving farmed animal welfare conditions.