Aquaculture in numbers
Consumption of fishery and aquaculture products
The demand for fishery and aquaculture products has increased significantly worldwide in recent decades. Average consumption per year has increased from 9 kg to 20.5 kg per capita from 1961 to 2018 (FAO, 2020). In 2018, of the 178.5 million tons of wild-caught fish and fish produced through aquaculture, about 88% was used for human consumption (FAO, 2020). As the intake of animal protein from the consumption of fish, crustaceans, and aquatic mollusks increases at a higher rate than from other animal protein sources (FAO, 2020), aquatic animals will play an important role in the human food supply in the future.
Production of aquaculture products
Over the past two decades (2001-2018), the yield of aquaculture products worldwide has increased by an average of 5.3% per year (FAO, 2020). In 2018, about half (46%) of the total yield of aquatic animals came from aquaculture (FAO, 2020). The largest share, i.e. 89% of aquatic animals from aquaculture came from Asia (FAO, 2020). In this context, China in particular plays a significant role in production, as more aquaculture products have been produced in China since 1991 than in all other countries of the world combined (FAO, 2020).
For comparison: Amount of fish produced in aquaculture in four selected countries.
(FIZ, 2021; FAO, 2020)
Germany
18,108 tons (2018)
Norway
1,355,000 tons (2018)
India
7,066,000 tons (2018)
China (mainland)
47,559,000 tons (2018)