How Many Vegetarians Are There?

[Guest guest]

I thought the information posted below might be of interest to some of the fine

people in this group. In summation, about 3% of the U.S. population is

vegetarian (depending upon your definition of " vegetarian " ).

 

Enjoy,

Ric

 

____________________

 

How Many Vegetarians Are There?

The Vegetarian Resource Group Asked in a 2009 National Poll

With soymilk in almost every supermarket and even Burger King carrying veggie

burgers, it appears that the interest in vegetarian foods has greatly grown over

the last twenty years. In a poll conducted by The Vegetarian Resource Group

(VRG), when VRG asked people while eating out, if they order a dish without

meat, fish, or fowl; over 50% said sometimes, often, or always (2008 VRG Poll).

 

However, The Vegetarian Resource Group wanted to find out how many people are

actually vegetarian. You may obtain different answers, depending on how a person

defines vegetarian. The word now has a positive connotation, as many people who

are not actually vegetarian call themselves vegetarians.

 

In order to find an estimate of the number of " true " vegetarians, VRG

commissioned Harris Interactive® to conduct an online survey asking U.S. adults

the following question:

 

Which of the following foods, if any, do you never eat? Please select all that

apply.

I never eat…:

 

Meat

Poultry

Fish/Seafood

Dairy Products

Eggs

Honey

I sometimes eat all of these foods.

Don't know.

In the survey, 3% of U.S. adults indicated they never eat meat, poultry and

fish/seafood. They were classified as vegetarian. Of this group, one percent

also never eat dairy, eggs, and honey, and were classified as vegan. Eight

percent of respondents said they never eat meat. Remember, that when marketing

vegetarian and vegan foods, you also need to look at the much larger number of

people interested in these items, as well as those actually vegetarian. With 5%

of females 18-34 being vegetarian, and 12% of females ages 18–34 not eating

meat, this makes a strong statement for companies and restaurants to develop

more meatless products and dishes for these consumers.

 

Based on this data, about 3% of the U.S. adult population is vegetarian. We can

therefore estimate there are approximately 6-8 million adult vegetarians in the

United States.

 

Also when looking at this data, we see that vegans appear to make up a high

percentage of vegetarians. Vegans are often the activists who do promotion, so

when developing new products, companies should keep these vegans in mind.

 

For additional vegetarian polls, see http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faq.htm#poll.

 

DATA FROM THE HARRIS INTERACTIVE QUICK QUERY SM online omnibus:

 

ADULTS IN THE UNITED STATES

WHO ARE VEGETARIAN

3% Total (This was rounded from 3.4%.)

3% Male (Rounded from 3.3%)

3% Female (Rounded from 3.4%)

5% Female, ages 18-34 (Rounded from 5.2%)

3% Northeast (Rounded from 3.3%)

1% Midwest (Rounded from 1.3%)

4% South (Rounded from 3.5%)

5% West (Rounded from 5.4%)

1% Vegan (0.8% never eat meat, fish, fowl, dairy, eggs, or honey)

1% Would be Vegan, except for honey (Rounded from 1.3%)

 

 

ADULTS IN THE UNITED STATES

WHO NEVER EAT MEAT

8% Total

11% West

12% Female, ages 18-34

9% Male, ages 18-34

15% Student

 

METHODOLOGY

Harris Interactive® fielded the study on behalf of The Vegetarian Resource Group

from May 1-5, 2009 via its QuickQuery SM online omnibus service, interviewing a

nationwide sample of 2,397 U.S. adults aged 18 years and older. Data were

weighted using propensity score weighting to be representative of the the total

U.S. adult population on the basis of region, age within gender, education,

household income, race/ethnicity, and propensity to be online.

 

Using traditional methods, with a pure probability sample of 2,397 adults, one

could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a

sampling error of 2.7% percentage points. However that does not take other

sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability

sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

Nonprobability samples can still be representative of the population, but cannot

depend upon the rationale of probability theory.

 

ABOUT HARRIS INTERACTIVE

Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and

rich history in multimodal research that is powered by our science and

technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive

serves clients globally through our North American, European and Asian offices

and a network of independent market research firms.