Passover Dinner Statistics (1960–2026): Numbers By The Meat, Part 1 of 5: Turkey!

Now, this is the first time I’ve ever covered Passover anywhere ever! Passover centerpiece meat options or “Entrees,” composed of Beef Brisket, Chicken, Roast Lamb, Fish, and Turkey.

This one will be tricky!

I’ll take the number of Jewish people in the US population from 1960 to 2026, divide them by 6 and then multiply by two (when it comes to Turkey purchases as in consumption/waste)…because there are two seders during Passover. We’ll then separate waste numbers from the consumption ones. It’s also because these are the same ones each one has bought.

US Jewish Population (1960–2026): 1960–1969: 5,449,250 1970–1979: 5,685,000 1980–1989: 5,710,445 1990: 5,500,000 1991: 5,550,000 1992–2008: 5,828,000 2009: 6,544,000 2010: 6,000,000 2011: 6,588,065 2012: 6,721,680 2013: 6,721,965 2014: 6,769,000 2015: 7,160,000 2016: 6,856,304 2017: 6,850,865 2018: 6,925,475 2019: 6,968,600 2020: 7,153,065 2021: 7,300,000 2022: 7,387,992 2023: 7,460,600 2024: 7,698,840 2025: 5,700,000 2026: 6,300,000 Source: https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-population-in-the-united-states-nationally

Between 70% and 80% (75%) of American Jews, engage in a private Passover Seder dinner twice in this one week of the year.

Accounting for the “75%” who have a traditional Passover Seder dinner two times each, every single year (year-by-year): 1960–1969: 4,086,938 1970–1979: 4,263,750 1980–1989: 4,282,834 1990: 4,125,000 1991: 4,162,500 1992–2008: 4,371,000 2009: 4,908,000 2010: 4,500,000 2011: 4,941,049 2012: 5,041,260 2013: 5,041,474 2014: 5,076,750 2015: 5,370,000 2016: 5,142,228 2017: 5,138,149 2018: 5,194,106 2019: 5,226,450 2020: 5,364,799 2021: 5,475,000 2022: 5,540,994 2023: 5,595,450 2024: 5,774,130 2025: 4,275,000 2026: 4,725,000

Passover Turkey Purchase/Consumption/Waste Statistics In The USA (1960–2026): 1960–1969: 1,362,313 1970–1979: 1,421,250 1980–1989: 1,427,611 1990: 1,375,000 1991: 1,387,500 1992–2008: 1,457,000 2009: 1,636,000 2010: 1,500,000 2011: 1,647,016 2012: 1,680,420 2013: 1,680,491 2014: 1,692,250 2015: 1,790,000 2016: 1,714,076 2017: 1,712,716 2018: 1,731,369 2019: 1,742,150 2020: 1,788,266 2021: 1,825,000 2022: 1,846,998 2023: 1,865,150 2024: 1,924,710 2025: 1,425,000 2026: 1,575,000

Trash Volume Increases: Total household trash and organic food waste can surge by 15% to 50% during the week of Passover compared to standard weeks. This means that Passover waste is on average 32.5% higher during this one and only week of the holiday (in comparison to the entire year, annually). Link: https://www.jpost.com/enviro-tech/nation-urged-to-lower-holiday-consumption-and-waste /article-265217