How Many People Are Vegan?
How Many Eat Vegan When Eating Out?
The 2019 National Harris Poll
By Charles Stahler
With Target selling almond and soy milk, Chipotle carrying Sofritas as well as listing it as a Vegan Bowl on their website, and Carl's Junior offering the Beyond Burger, it seems there is an explosion of interest in vegan foods. However, The Vegetarian Resource Group wanted to know how many vegans there are.
In a national survey commissioned by VRG and conducted online by The Harris Poll among more than 2,000 U.S. adults, we asked the following question in 2016 and March 7-11, 2019.
Which of the following, if any, best describes your eating behavior?
- I never eat meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs.
- I never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry.
- I never eat meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs when eating out or getting takeout, but eat one or more of these foods at home.
- I never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry when eating out or getting takeout, but eat one or more of these foods at home.
- When eating out or getting takeout, I sometimes eat meals without meat, fish, poultry, dairy, or eggs.
- When eating out or getting takeout, I sometimes eat meals without meat, fish, or poultry.
- None of these.
We considered those who never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry; plus those who never eat meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs, as vegetarian. We classified that second category of vegetarians who don't eat dairy or eggs also as vegan. Because we use the word "never" and don't just ask if a person considers him/herself vegetarian, our numbers may be lower than others. Be wary of comparing to polls in other countries that ask if you are vegetarian or vegan, since people may self define differently. We did not ask about honey.
Forty-six percent of the U.S. adult population always or sometimes eats vegetarian meals when eating out. Twenty percent of U.S. adults always or sometimes eat vegan meals when eating out. Four percent of American adults are vegetarian (including vegans) all the time, and half of the vegetarians are also vegan (2%).
Since 46% of the country eats at least some vegetarian meals when eating out, and almost half (43%) of those are eating vegan meals, this has strong implications for food companies and restaurants. There is strong incentive for producing vegan dishes. However, based on our other experiences outside this poll, it's not enough just to offer meatless items, but businesses have to cater to various needs, which may include price, health, convenience, source of ingredients, taste, religious requirements, etc. And since there is a large segment who did not say they consume vegetarian meals, marketing is more complex because of such different audiences.
Breaking down by demographics, male/female, region of country, education, or marital status didn't have an overwhelming impact. Those in the Northeast (50%) are more likely than those in the Midwest (40%) always or sometimes to eat vegetarian meals when eating out. Those in the West (52%) are more likely than in the Midwest (40%) or South (44%) always or sometime to eat vegetarian when eating out.
The strongest point of interest for marketers and businesspeople seems to be that 60% of 18-34 year olds always/sometimes eat vegetarian (including vegan) meals when eating out, compared to 40% of those ages 35+. Likewise, 52% of parents with children under 18 fit this category, compared to 43% of those who do not have children under 18. Twenty-six percent of 18-34 year olds always or sometimes eat vegan meals when eating out, compared to just 16% of those ages 45+. Unless this trend shifts as these individuals become older, restaurants and food manufacturers are wise to be preparing for these changes.
Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of The Vegetarian Resource Group from March 7-11, 2019 among 2,027 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For more detail on survey methodology, contact [email protected].
Estimating about 254 million adults in the U.S (www.census.gov/quickfacts), 46% sometimes or always eating vegetarian (including vegan) would be 116.8 million interested adults. Twenty percent sometimes or always eating vegan meals would be 50.8 million interested American adults. Four percent vegetarians (including vegans) would be 10 million adults using the historical American vegetarian movement definition. Vegetarians do not use meat, fish, seafood, or poultry. Vegans are vegetarians who don't use other animal products such as dairy or eggs. For more information on vegetarian and vegan polls and numbers see: www.vrg.org/nutshell/faq.htm#poll.
In our March 7-11, 2019 Harris Poll, we found that 4% of American adults were vegetarian and 20% sometimes or always ate vegan meals. We asked the same question we previously asked in 2016.
As somewhat of a check on this and to gain additional information, we posted a different question in another survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of The Vegetarian Resource Group from February 27-March 1, 2019 among 2,031 adults ages 18 and older.
Which of the following, if any, best describes your eating behavior?
We asked:
- I never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry.
- I never eat meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs.
- I never eat meat, fish, seafood or poultry, and sometimes eat meals without dairy and eggs, but less than half the time.
- I never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry and eat meals without dairy and eggs more than half the time, but not all the time.
- I don't eat meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs at some of my meals, but less than half the time.
- I don't eat meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs at more than half of my meals, but not all the time.
- None of these
Same as in the March 7th poll above, we found that 2% of adults were vegan. In the February 27th poll, 21% always or sometimes eat vegan meals. In the March 7th poll, 20% always or sometimes eat vegan meals.
In the March 7th poll, 2% selected "I never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry." In the February 27th poll, 2.6% (rounded to 3%) selected "I never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry." For these data points, the two polls asked in different ways produced similar results. However, possibly because of the way we asked the question (i.e., a different choice of answers), while 4% of Americans said they were vegetarian in the March 7th poll, if we add up the values of those who never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry in the February poll, we came up with 11% vegetarian. Based on our experience, we doubt the 11% figure is an accurate representation of vegetarians and suspect that it is likely due to the different phrasing of the question.
Interestingly, this 11% of vegetarians in the February poll is somewhat closer to the numbers being reported by some outlets as the number of "vegans" in the country. Based on VRG's past research* and personal experiences, we doubt the number of vegans is that high at this time. If other research indicates higher numbers of vegans, it is possible that the phrasing of the questions asked and how people interpret the word vegan could be at play. Our 11% was vegetarians, who are not all vegans. We suspect that higher percentage could include people who don't really adhere to the definition of NEVER eating meat, fish, seafood, or poultry all the time, and therefore may not be vegetarian by that definition. Either way, 20% of U.S. adults eating vegan meals sometimes or all the time is an amazing change from when earlier surveys indicated 1% of the population said they were vegetarian and still included people who ate meat**; almost nobody knew what the word vegan meant; and you had to order powdered soymilk through the mail, as it wasn't available in supermarkets.
* For other polls, see: www.vrg.org/nutshell/faq.htm#adult
** In a 1977-1978 United States Department of Agriculture Food Consumption Survey, of 37,135 people surveyed, 1.2% answered yes to "Are you a vegetarian?" However, some of these people also reported eating flesh during the three days on which dietary information was obtained.
