In 2020, Iceland, Maldives and Portugal were the biggest consumers of fish eaten by person, more than 60 kg a year. On average, we eat globally approximately 20.5 kg of fish per year. The consumption should increase to 2.2 kg in 2030, according to FAOstat and OECD. However, the rate of growth will slow compared with the previous decade (0.4% p.a. vs 1.1% p.a.).
According to the outlook, fish consumption per capita will rise in Asia, Europe and America, while it will remain stable in Oceania and decline in Africa due mainly to rapid population growth outpacing the growth in supply.
By 2030, it is projected that 90% of fish production will be consumed as food, 8% reduced into fishmeal and fish oil, and the remaining 2% as other non-food uses. As a source of protein, fatty acids and micronutrients fish will remain key to global diets and playing a key role in food security in particular for coastal and inland communities highly dependent on fish for their diets
The share of fish originating from aquaculture should increase to 57% of total by 2030, up from 53% in 2018-2020.
Overall, total fish consumption reached 158.8 mil tonnes in 2020 in the World according to Faostat with the average annual growth amounting to 3.0% since 1961. China ranked the highest in fish consumption with 57.5 mil tonnes (36.2% of total) followed by Indonesia and India in 2020. The top 3 countries hold a 50.8% share while the ten largest countries some 70.2% in 2020.
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