2026-07-04 · percent of antibiotic use (global estimate)
Most antibiotics go to farm animals
Medical use is critical — agricultural use is larger by volume in many countries.
Antimicrobial resistance was associated with more than 4.7 million deaths globally in 2021 — and most antibiotic use doesn't happen in hospitals. A WHO/FAO-based global estimate puts livestock at 73% of antibiotic use and human medicine at 27%, a split that shapes the fight against drug-resistant infections.
1 cell = 0.1 percent of antibiotic use (global estimate) (0.1% of antibiotic consumption) · 1,000 cells
Context
The 73% livestock share comes from a WHO and UN FAO estimate of how global antibiotic use splits between animals and people. Human medicine remains a critical driver — WHO cites misuse and overuse of antibiotics as a main cause of resistance — but agricultural volumes are larger in many countries, which is why the WHO-led Global Action Plan on AMR 2026–2036 targets reduced antimicrobial use in agrifood systems.
Resistance is already widespread: 1 in 6 laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections worldwide were resistant to antibiotics in 2023, rising to 1 in 3 in the WHO South-East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean regions. Between 2018 and 2023, resistance increased in over 40% of the pathogen–antibiotic combinations monitored.
WHO coordinates the response with FAO, UNEP and the World Organisation for Animal Health as the Quadripartite, under a One Health approach spanning human, animal and plant health. Treating resistant bacterial infections alone is projected to cost US$412 billion annually through 2035, with a further US$443 billion per year in productivity losses.
WHO / UN FAO antimicrobial use split estimate.
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