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As the world population rises, the demand for meat, eggs and airy products is soaring in developing countries. The Worldwatch Institute warns that without safeguards the demand could strain the environment and pose public health risks.

Worldwatch says both production and consumption of animal products are increasingly concentrated in developing countries. In fact, it says, the demand in those countries has increased at what it calls a staggering rate in recent decades.

“Over the last 30 years, the number of farm animals – and that includes both four-footed livestock like cattle and pigs and goats and sheep, as well as poultry – has increased about 23 percent since 1980. So now we have about 20 billion farm animals worldwide and again that includes chickens and pigs and cattle, sheep and goats,” said Danielle Nierenberg, director of the institute’s Nourishing the Planet project and co-author of the report on farm animal populations.

She said there are two main reasons for the increase.

“Urbanization and rising incomes particularly in developing and emerging countries. China, Brazil, India – they’ve all seen their middle class or consumer class rise over the last 30 years. And what tends to happen when people have a little bit more money to spend is they spend it on higher quality food. They tend to buy more milk or cheese or meat,” she said.