Milk produced per cow 1999-2018

The amount of milk produced per cow in the United States has increased each year since 1999, from 17.76 thousand pounds per year to around 23.17 thousand pounds in 2018. This figure is expected to increase to 23.5 thousand pounds of milk per cow by 2019.

Milk Production Worldwide

On a global scale, the production volume of cow milk reached over 500 million metric tons in 2018 and is expected to increase slightly in the next year. In 2018, the 28 member states of the European Union produced the most milk of any country, by a large margin. The United States was the second leading producer of milk in that year.

Declining Milk Consumption in the U.S.

While the global production volume of milk, as well as milk production per cow have increased significantly over the last several years, per capita consumption of fluid milk in the United States has seen a steady decrease year after year. In 2000, the average American consumed around 197 pounds of milk over the course of the year, and by 2018, the per capita consumption of fluid milk stood at only 146 pounds.