eli5: Why is there 1%, 2%, and whole milk but not any other percentage?

Question

I just feel like its weird how the percentage goes from 1-2% to whole.

Also, what do these percentages even mean? How can you turn milk into 1% or 2% milk?

In: Other

Answer 1

The % refers to the amount of fat in the milk. Whole milk is around 4%. We then remove some of the fat from the milk to make different skim milk, 2% has half its fat removed, 1% is 75% removed, and use the fat to make other products.