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Despite the industry’s campaigns, consumers are increasingly failing to follow the advice of some doctors to eat fish once or twice a week.

Consumers in Norway, one of the major fish-producing countries, are eating less and less fish. In 2025, total per capita consumption fell to 18 kg per year, almost 14 per cent less than a decade ago. [1]

This negative trend can also be observed in the European Union, where fish consumption fell to almost 23 kg per capita per year in 2023 – the lowest figure of the last decade, and a 3 per cent decline compared with 2022. [2]

Do these figures reflect growing concern for the welfare of fish, a waning trust in the health claims surrounding fish dishes, or are they simply the result of declining purchasing power?

References:

[1] https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/norway-s-seafood-consumption-dropped-in-2025-continuing-decade-long-trend

[2] https://fishery-aquaculture-market-observatory.ec.europa.eu/en/publications/eu-fish-market-reports/the-eu-fish-market-2025

For more on fish consumption and statistics, see fish-facts 33: ’Edible fish consumption’