Animal welfare is an important aspect of the acceptability and thus sustainability of animal production systems in Europe and, increasingly, in the rest of the world. In this chapter, we will first describe some developments in animal production and the related societal discussion on animal welfare with focus on the European Union. Then we will discuss animal welfare research and welfare assessment and we illustrate the case of the development of the Welfare Quality® protocols promoted by the European Union. Finally, we address current initiatives for improving the transparency of the market for animal-friendly produced products via labelling as well as technological developments for improving animal welfare.