The dairy industry is broken into several product categories. Of these, yogurt is the one that has seen the greatest growth over the last decades. Between 1990 and 2009, the production of yogurt in the United States rose 291.4%. By way of comparison, the U.S. population grew by 24% in this same time period. While production of all dairy products grew, yogurt was by far the leading category. Butter production grew by 20.8% and the production of all cheeses grew 66.78% while the quantity of yogurt almost trebled during this two-decade period.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1990 and 2009
Market size: 978.9 million and 3.832 billion pounds respectively.
Source: “Dairy Products, 2009 Summary,” USDA publication, April 2010, page 9, available online here. Data for 1990 are from the 1991 edition of the USDA report.
Original source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service