According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, animal use is split almost evenly between commercial and non-commercial users (Welsh, 1991; Newman, 1989), although these analyses leave out the federal laboratories, which account for somewhere between 15-20% of national laboratory animal use. The ratio between commercial, non-commercial and government laboratories in the United States may actually be around 45:40:15. In Great Britain, commercial laboratories have consistently accounted for around two-thirds of the animal use with educational institutions and government laboratories splitting the remainder.

Much attention has been focused on the use of animals in the testing of personal care and household products, although such use probably accounts for much less than 1% of the national demand for lab animals. In Great Britain, the testing of such products accounted for fewer than 5,000 animal procedures (one procedure equals approximately one animal) in 1990, or about 0.15% of total animal use. Among commercial organizations, the vast majority of animals are used in the discovery, development, and testing of new medicines and therapeutic procedures.

Overall, laboratory animal use can be divided into the following categories:

Education	Diagnosis
Development and toxicity testing of drugs	Testing of biological agents
Development and toxicity testing of other products	Other research (covering, for example: immunology, microbiology, oncology, physiology, zoology, ethology, ecology and a host of other disciplines and sub-disciplines)

Currently, no statistics are sufficiently detailed to provide an accurate estimate of animal use in the above categories. However, diagnosis probably accounts for less than 5% of the total. The development and toxicity testing of other products accounts for around 10% of the total. Education, including dissection, may account for up to 25% of all animal use. Drug development and testing and biologicals production may account for 30-40% of all animal use with other research accounting for the remainder.

Most of the "other" research employing animals is conducted at colleges and universities, medical and veterinary schools, corporations, and military bases. The majority of the development and toxicity testing of drug and non-drug products are conducted by product manufacturers (e.g., drug companies), chemical companies, or private laboratories that perform safety tests for other companies. Most animal use in education takes place in high schools, colleges and universities, and medical and veterinary schools.