Are poultry birds really important? Yes...

The negative utility of poultry lives seems to exceed the utility of human lives for the mean country.

Calculations

Negative utility of poultry lives as a fraction of the utility of human lives for the mean country: R = RN*RU = 1.95^[1] (> 1).

• Ratio between the number of poultry birds and humans for the mean country: RN = 3.78.
• Negative utility per unit time of poultry life as a fraction of the utility per unit time of human life: RU = -UP/UH = 51.6 %.
  • Utility per unit time of human life in the mean country: UH = UHI*RHU = 75.9.
    • Utility per unit time of human life in high-income countries: UHI = 82.
    • Ratio between the utility per unit time of human life in the mean country and high-income countries^[2]: RHU = 0.858/0.927 = 0.926.
  • Utility per unit time of poultry life (for "FF [factory-farmed] broiler chicken"): UP = -56*0.7 = -39.2.

1. ^{^}

   I believe this is an underestimate, as the mean value I estimated here is 300 (= 768/2.79) times as high. The difference is discussed here.

2. ^{^}

   Ratio between the utility of human life between 2025 and 2100 estimated here for the 95th percentile and mean countries (see tab "Future utility of human life"; the method is explained here).