Executive summary: According to a survey of the Flemish public in Belgium, the suffering of a farmed animal like a broiler chicken is equal in magnitude to the happiness of a human, suggesting that global animal farming results in net negative welfare.
Key points:
The survey measured welfare range (capacity for suffering/happiness relative to humans) and welfare level (actual momentary welfare on a −10 to +10 scale) for various animals.
Most respondents believe chickens and dogs have equal or greater capacity for suffering than humans, higher than previous expert estimates.
The average welfare level of a human was +2.6, while a broiler chicken was −2.9, suggesting chicken suffering is comparable to human happiness in magnitude.
Results were consistent across gender, age, and prior involvement with animal welfare, and robust to question ordering effects.
The concerning implication is that the net global welfare may be large and negative due to the high numbers of farmed animals.
Decreasing animal farming and improving farmed animal welfare should be top priorities for increasing total welfare.
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Executive summary: According to a survey of the Flemish public in Belgium, the suffering of a farmed animal like a broiler chicken is equal in magnitude to the happiness of a human, suggesting that global animal farming results in net negative welfare.
Key points:
The survey measured welfare range (capacity for suffering/happiness relative to humans) and welfare level (actual momentary welfare on a −10 to +10 scale) for various animals.
Most respondents believe chickens and dogs have equal or greater capacity for suffering than humans, higher than previous expert estimates.
The average welfare level of a human was +2.6, while a broiler chicken was −2.9, suggesting chicken suffering is comparable to human happiness in magnitude.
Results were consistent across gender, age, and prior involvement with animal welfare, and robust to question ordering effects.
The concerning implication is that the net global welfare may be large and negative due to the high numbers of farmed animals.
Decreasing animal farming and improving farmed animal welfare should be top priorities for increasing total welfare.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.