The use of antibiotics in animal farming, a significant contributor to the rise of antimicrobial resistance, is expected to increase by 8% from 2020 to 2030, according to a recent analysis. Despite efforts to decrease their usage, the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture is a key driver of bacterial infections that are no longer treatable by antibiotics. This is due to the use of antibiotics for speeding up animal growth and disease prevention in unsanitary conditions. Despite regulations by some countries, such as the US and much of Europe, to ban the use of antibiotics that promote growth, manufacturers often market the drugs as disease prevention. The majority of data on antibiotic use is not publicly available, as many countries only release their data to the World Organization for Animal Health, which groups it by continents. The study shows that antibiotic use is highest in Asia and China, a trend that is expected to continue until 2030, and that Africa has the fastest growing use of antibiotics, increasing by 25% from 2020 to 2030.
Source: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0001305