Top 5 Milk Producing Countries
Milk and milk-based products are a key part of many people’s diet. In 2011, dairy farms produced approximately 730 million tonnes of milk worldwide. With such a large amount of milk produced each year, are you wondering where this milk comes from? Well, wonder no more! Here is a list of the Top 5 Milk Producing Countries in the world!
1. We begin our list with India. Not surprisingly due to its population size, India is one of the world’s largest producers and consumer of milk. Total annual production of milk in India is estimated to be 110 million tonnes, enough milk to fill over 44,000 Olympic sized swimming pools! Recent years have seen a significant growth in milk production in India due to development of large co-operatives.
2. Second place goes to the US, with annual milk production close to 85 million tonnes. While 25 million tonnes less than India, this is still enough milk to fill over 34,000 Olympic sized swimming pools! Not bad for a country with a population almost four times smaller than India’s.
3. Third is China. Despite the fact that until a few years ago China had one of the lowest milk consumptions per person in the world, recent years have seen a significant increase in both Chinese milk production and consumption. Today, China’s annual milk production is estimated to be 40 million tonnes.
4. Fourth is Pakistan with an estimated annually milk production of 34 million tonnes. While this is only a third of India’s milk production, Pakistan’s population is less than 1/6 the size of India’s! Pakistan has seen a steep rise in milk production over the past few years as many large dairy farms have been established.
5. Fifth on our list is Russia. Recent data indicates that Russia’s annual milk production is approximately 34 million tonnes. Like China, Russia is also one of the world’s largest importers of dairy products.
Finally, 19th on the list of milk producing countries is Canada, with an estimate annual production of 8 million tonnes. BC produces around 700,000 tonnes of this, which is still enough to fill almost 300 Olympic sized swimming pools! Not bad for a Province where all dairy farms are family-owned and the average farm size is around 150 cows!
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