81 % of Swedes want a ban on cages in the EU by 2035 – the cage lobby wants it by 2045

The market research company Savanta asked 25,000 people in 25 EU countries when the last hen should leave the last cage in the EU. Most people want all hens to be free from cages today, and as many as 81% of Swedes want a ban on cages before 2035. The survey results come five years after the European Commission promised a ban on cages in line with the European Citizens’ Initiative End the Cage Age, which was supported by 1.4 million citizens.

COPA-COGECA, the Brussels-based lobby organisation, represents large egg companies that keep hens in cages. They want to delay the transition period.

“Under the cage lobby’s plan, hens will be crammed into cages until 2045. Europeans disagree. Three in four want the last hen in the EU to be out of a cage by 2035 at the latest. Only 7 out of 100 would accept 2045. For five years, the Commission has ignored public opinion and bowed to the cage lobby. The Swedish public is concerned about hens – we should introduce a ban to speed up change within the EU.”

– Linn Åkesson, Chief Programme Officer of Project 1882

The European Commission promised to propose legislation to phase out cages for hens in 2021, but this has still not happened. During the first 15 months of its term, it met with lobbyists from the meat, poultry and dairy industries at least 46 times to discuss animal welfare issues. Animal welfare organisations met with them seven times.

Over 140 million hens in cages

More than one in three hens in the EU still live in cages: over 140 million birds. Each hen has less space than an A4 sheet of paper. She stands on a wire mesh floor and has no room to stretch her wings. It is these cages that the lobby wants to retain until 2045.

Supermarket chains have already moved forward: in Sweden, cage eggs have been phased out following persistent campaigning by Project 1882. However, many of the imported cage eggs end up as ingredients in processed foods, where no labelling reveals how the hen lived. Only comprehensive EU legislation abolishing cages will protect these hens.

COPA-COGECA has informed the Commission in writing that the organisation wishes to keep hens in cages for at least another 15 years. Yet the hens could be freed from cages immediately for less than 1% of the egg industry’s profits.

The European Commission needs to take action

Two Commissioners are responsible: Christophe Hansen for agriculture and Olivér Várhelyi for animal welfare. Várhelyi has promised on more than one occasion that the Commission will present the legislation before the end of the year. If December passes without the proposal being tabled, the Commission will have missed its own deadline twice.

Both Commissioners now know what people across Europe want: for the last hen in the EU to be out of a cage by 2035 at the latest.

“The Commission now faces a simple choice: to be remembered for a betrayal and a broken promise, or to keep its word to 1.4 million citizens and prove that the EU listens when Europeans have their say. The Commission can end this any day it chooses – publish on time, last hen out by 2035, and be the institution that proved the EU keeps its word to its citizens.”

– Linn Åkesson, Chief Programme Officer of Project 1882

More on the results

• Three out of four people in the EU want the last hen to be out of the last cage by 2035 at the latest
• In all 25 countries, the most common response was that the last hen in the EU should already be out of a cage. Half of Europeans gave this response; in Sweden, 60% did so
• Only 7 out of 100 would accept hens being kept in cages until 2045
• The response cuts across political divides: in every country, the majority of voters in every major party want the last hen in the EU to be out of a cage by 2035 at the latest

Savanta carried out the collection of responses between 11 and 29 September 2026 in 26 of the EU’s Member States. In 25 countries, the online survey was completed by a sufficient number of respondents – approximately 1,000 adults aged 18 and over. The survey was commissioned by the organisation Humánny pokrok.