The total number of animals tested on has been going up, but that trend appears to be slowing or reversing. Further, most of the rise has come from an increase in the number of animals bred with genetic modification; the number of animals being used in actual experiments has remained roughly steady since 2009.

The most recent data shows a drop in both experiments and breeding, but the Home Office warns that its data collection methods have changed, so this may not be accurate. We've represented it in a different colour on the chart to mark it as separate.