In 2001, World Milk Day was established by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations to recognise the importance of milk as a global food, and to celebrate the dairy sector.
Each year since, the benefits of milk and dairy products have been actively promoted around the world.
World Milk Day 2023 will focus on showcasing how dairy is reducing its environmental footprint, while also providing nutritious foods and livelihoods.
June 1 was chosen to mark World Milk Day because a number of countries were already celebrating a national milk day on or around this time.
Late May was originally proposed, but some countries, for example China, felt they already had too many celebrations in that month.
The fact that many countries choose to do this on the same day lends additional importance to individual national celebrations and shows that milk is a global food.