Nowhere is the transition more pronounced than in China, where 80 per cent of the population were rural in 1980, yet 53 per cent now live in cities and 70 per cent are projected to do so by 2025.18 Back in 1982, the average Chinese ate just 13 kilos of meat per year; today the figure is 60 kilos and rising. Although this is only half what the average American eats, it still means that the Chinese today consume one quarter of all the world’s meat and twice as much as the burger-lovin’ USA.
