World per capita egg consumption record broken by Mexico, again

While gathering data for Latin American production and consumption of chicken and eggs in 2021, I admit I was surprised by the annual per capita egg consumption of Mexico reported by the National Poultry Producers association – 409 eggs per person!

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One of the many breakfast options with eggs in Mexico. Benjamín Ruiz
One of the many breakfast options with eggs in Mexico. Benjamín Ruiz

While gathering data for Latin American production and consumption of chicken and eggs in 2021, I admit I was surprised by the annual per capita egg consumption of Mexico reported by the National Poultry Producers Association – 409 eggs per person!

It is astonishing because there is no single country in the world with such a figure. Japan consumes 337 eggs per person/year, and Colombians are now at 334. Mexico was around the 380 figure since 2017, and that number moved up and down a few digits over the last five years. So, I always thought it was going to be very difficult to surpass that mythical amount. We were already eating a little more than one egg a day in Mexico and eating more seemed difficult.

There is no doubt we Mexicans love eggs for breakfast – a “sacred,” non-skip meal. One just needs to take a look at the vast menu options in any regular restaurant or at any household fridge.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one explanation, where people were more prone to cook eggs at home. But it also seems that high meat prices pushed that move. If other animal proteins are more expensive, then people turned to eggs – simple as that.

The national layer flock also increased by practically 3% to 172.2 million birds in 2021 year over year, also showing an increase of 8.5% over the last five years.

Now the question that lingers is – is this going to be maintained or will it decrease to the previous level in the next few years?

We will need to wait, but no doubt the figure looks interesting and attractive, as well as a benchmark for other countries, which tells us more eggs can be eaten.

What do you think?

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