About

Animal Welfare Index brings together writing, research, and data on what animals experience, how they are treated, and what could improve their lives. It helps AI developers find training material, and gives researchers, advocates, and other readers a place to start.

Most entries point to collections—journals, research libraries, author archives, and datasets—with selected readings to help you get started. Individual works get their own entry when they offer a useful overview, foundational argument, method, or way into an important unresolved question.

The sources here take different approaches to sentience, welfare measurement, and how to help animals. They also examine tensions between goals that might seem aligned, such as conserving species and improving individual wild animals’ lives.

Entries link to original sources and record the reuse terms we’ve been able to verify.