How Many Veg/Vegans Are There In The USA?

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How Many Veg/Vegans Are There In The USA?

Postby JeffN » Thu Nov 24, 2016 12:02 pm

Contrary to popular belief around here and other social media/internet outlets, I have long maintained that the amount of true dietary vegans has not and is not really growing, even though the echo chamber of social media and the internet gives the impression that it is.

This is from the most recent 2016 poll:

"According to a nationwide poll in 2016, approximately 3.3% of American adults are vegetarian or vegan (never eat meat, poultry, or fish), and about 46% of vegetarians are vegan (1.5%)."

Here are the results of all the surveys from 1994 to 2016:

1) The VRG has been conducting & collecting surveys and organizing the results for a long time and the results this year are virtually the same as many years ago. You can see the prior survey results at the link at the bottom of the article. We consistently see about 3-5% are vegetarian and about 1-1.5% are true dietary vegans.

http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/Polls/2016_adults_veg.htm

Here are the numbers for each year's poll, who conducted the poll, and the number of subjects polled. I would recommend reading the above site for the details on each poll as it helps to put any changes in perspective. There is also a +/-3% margin of error, so any of these changes could really just be mostly noise.

1994. Roper. (1,978)
1% Veg
? Vegan

1998. Roper (1,960)
1% Veg
? Vegan

2000 Zogby (968 adults)
2.5% Veg
0.9% Vegan

2003 Harris (1,031 adults)
2.8% Veg
1.8% Vegan

2006 Harris (1,000 adults)
2.3% Veg
1.4% Vegan

2009 Harris (2,397)
3.4% Veg
.8-1.3% Vegan

2011 Harris (1,010)
5% Veg
2.5% Vegan

2012 Harris (2,030)
4% Veg
1% Vegan

2015 Harris (2,000+)
3.4% Veg
.5% Vegan

2016 (1) Harris (2,015)
3% Veg
1.5% Vegan

2016 (2) Harris. (2,015)
3.3% Veg
1.65% Vegan

I made a graph of these numbers;

Image


2) This is from a 2014 study, Study of Current and Former Vegetarians and Vegans, December 2014
https://faunalytics.org/wp-content/uplo ... Report.pdf

Table 1. Prevalence of Former Vegetarians/Vegans
Sample n = 11,399
Former vegetarians 9.1%
Former vegans 1.1%
Former vegetarians/vegans 10.2%

Table 2. Prevalence of Current Vegetarians/Vegans (Sample n = 11,399)
Current vegetarians 1.5%
Current vegans 0.5%
Current vegetarians/vegans 1.9%

Graphic from the above study;

Image


3) This is from a 2012 Gallup poll (not associated with the VRG)
5% Veg
2% Vegan

"Vegetarianism in the U.S. remains quite uncommon and a lifestyle that is neither growing nor waning in popularity. The 5% of the adult population who consider themselves to be vegetarians is no larger than it was in previous Gallup surveys conducted in 1999 and 2001. The incidence of veganism is even smaller, at a scant 2% of the adult population."

As I said, when I look at all the poll results and try to put them in perspective, I see that about 3-5% are vegetarian and about 1-1.5% are true dietary vegans.

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Jeff
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Re: How Many Veg/Vegans Are There In The USA?

Postby JeffN » Thu Feb 01, 2018 8:48 am

There are a few news stories circulating, mostly highlighted by "vegan" medial outlets, saying, "Veganism has grown 500% since 2014 in the US."

The source of the information is a food industry trend organization that conducts there reports and then sells the info. The cost to obtain the full report is $3,450, which, from the looks of it, none of these outlets have done. They are all just copying tidbits from the press release.

You can see the promo and PR of the report here:

https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/495 ... tutes.html

"Similarly, 6% of US consumers now claim to be vegan, up from just 1% in 2014."

The important word here is, claim!

According to a Zogby Poll in 2000 that was done for the VRG, we saw the following results:

Health Conscious (2 to 3 Veg Meals/Wk)
35-50%

Vegetarian Inclined (> 4 Veg Meals/Wk)
20-25%

Vegetarian (“Semi-Vegetarian”)
5-9% (20% College Students)

True Vegetarian (No Flesh)
~2.5%

Vegan (No Animal Products)
~1.5%

So, depending on which definition you used, you could say that 20-50% of the population claimed to be vegetarian/vegan, though the actual amount of people eating no flesh was only 2.5% and no animal products 1.5%. Huge difference. This reminds me of how, recently, I was sitting at a dinner party listening to two people near me, not knowing who I was, discussing their vegan diets while consuming their (real) chicken salads.

It is common to claim to be part of a trend, whether you are or not.

However, since 2012 (after a few years of decline), total red meat and poultry consumption is up and projected to continue to climb in the USA (USDA ERS) and meat consumption is up globally.

Humans are becoming more carnivorous
Study reveals global shift towards animal-based diet — a bad omen for the environment
http://www.nature.com/news/humans-are-b ... us-1.14282

US meat production to boom
Total domestic US meat and poultry production could hit the highest level this millennium in 2018
https://www.globalmeatnews.com/Article/ ... on-to-boom


When we look at health-promoting behaviors, which is what matters most to what I do and why I am here, according to many large-scale studies/surveys, only about 3-5% of Americans engage in the 5 most important healthy lifestyle behaviors and about .1-1% meet the bare minimum guidelines for a healthful diet.

The news of this apparent growth is really about the "flexatarian" and "reducetarian" movements that are attracting people to eat less meat, not to become vegan.

I get that eating fewer animals is good in many ways.

However, a vegan is one who doesn't consume any animal products at all. Vegan also does not equate to health. Gorging on Beyond Beef burgers, deep-fried buffalo cauliflower wings, gourmet vegan cheese and vegan beer this Super-Bowl weekend has nothing at all to do with what we are doing here.

Well, other than the fact that so many of the people who come to the 10-Day programs these days aren't just sick, overweight and unhealthy, they are vegans.

Now that is some food for thought,

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Re: How Many Veg/Vegans Are There In The USA?

Postby JeffN » Wed May 16, 2018 7:54 pm

JeffN wrote:"Similarly, 6% of US consumers now claim to be vegan, up from just 1% in 2014."

The important word here is, claim!


JeffN wrote:So, depending on which definition you used, you could say that 20-50% of the population claimed to be vegetarian/vegan, though the actual amount of people eating no flesh was only 2.5% and no animal products 1.5%. Huge difference. This reminds me of how, recently, I was sitting at a dinner party listening to two people near me, not knowing who I was, discussing their vegan diets while consuming their (real) chicken salads.

It is common to claim to be part of a trend, whether you are or not.


Whole Foods Market TV Commercial, 'Whatever Makes your Whole:....'

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/waCW/whole-food ... hole-paleo

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Re: How Many Veg/Vegans Are There In The USA?

Postby JeffN » Sun Nov 04, 2018 7:13 am

While the amount of vegans may appear to have risen 50% according to this Gallup survey, Gallup says, “little changed.

The reason is, if you look at the question, it is not very specific. It just asks if you “consider” yourself a vegan. In addition, it also says, “the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.” So, a 1% change is virtually meaningless. However, those who answered “no” to the same question rose 4% from 91% to 95%.

Of note, as I have mentioned before, it is the “flexitarians,” who are now ~1/3 of Americans, that are most likely driving the apparent increase in WFPB & vegan diets.

“Flexitarian” is someone who consumes animal products but makes an effort to eat more veg-based meals.

1/3 of Americans Are Now Flexitarians
https://southfloridareporter.com/1-3-of ... udy-video/

Flexitarians Are Driving Brisbane’s Booming Vegan Scene
https://www.livekindly.co/brisbane-flexitarians-vegan/

In Health
Jeff


Snapshot: Few Americans Vegetarian or Vegan
BY RJ REINHART
AUGUST 1, 2018

https://news.gallup.com/poll/238328/sna ... vegan.aspx

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- 5% of Americans say they are vegetarians, unchanged from 2012
- 3% say they are vegans, little changed from 2% in 2012

In regard to the questions & sampling error
https://news.gallup.com/file/poll/23834 ... .pdfAlways

Results are based on telephone interviews conducted July 1-11, 2018 with a random sample of –1,033—adults, ages 18+, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on this sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

The questions..

"In terms of your eating preferences, do you consider yourself to be a vegetarian, or not?
- Yes
- No
- No opinion

In terms of your eating preferences, do you consider yourself to be vegan, or not?
- Yes
- No
- No opinion
"
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Re: How Many Veg/Vegans Are There In The USA?

Postby JeffN » Mon Nov 12, 2018 6:26 pm

These appears to be a very well done analysis. It uses many of the same references I use, plus a few others and goes into a more detailed analysis then I did.

IS THE PERCENTAGE OF VEGETARIANS AND VEGANS IN THE U.S. INCREASING?
Animal Charity Evaluators
August 16, 2018 by Saulius Šimčikas

https://animalcharityevaluators.org/blo ... ncreasing/

Summary

Self-identity:
- Between 2% and 6% of Americans self-identify as vegetarians.

- Results of FooDS surveys indicate that the percentage of self-identified vegetarians has been increasing substantially between the years of 2013 and 2018 (see Graph 1).

- Around 60% of people who self-identify as vegetarians in surveys report eating meat1 when asked to list everything they ate during two non-consecutive 24-hour periods.


Consumption:
- Around 1% of adults both self-identify as vegetarians and report never consuming meat. It seems that this percentage has not changed substantially since the mid-1990s (see Surveys about both self-identity and consumption).

- The percentage of adults who report not consuming any meat on two non-consecutive 24-hour periods seems to have increased between 2003 and 2014 but remained below 2.5% (see Graph 3). If we also consider the people who ate fish in the last 30 days as non-vegetarians, the vegetarianism rate remained below 1.5%. Only ~55% of these people self-identify as vegetarians.2

- Less than 0.4% of adults reported consuming no animal products on two non-consecutive 24-hour periods (see Graph 3).

- The percentage of people aged 8 to 18 who report not consuming meat has not changed substantially between 2003 and 2014 (see my analysis of NHANES dietary recall data and VRG youth polls).

- The percentage of vegetarians has almost certainly3 increased since 1978, when only 1.2% of people surveyed self-identified as vegetarians and 0.55% self-identified as strict vegetarians.


Surveying:
- Online surveys tend to find significantly higher rates of vegetarianism than face-to-face surveys, possibly due to biases in online surveys.

- The results of widely cited polls by The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) should be compared with each other with caution because they differ from each other in many important aspects (such as survey method, questions, and census-balancing method). What is more, so far they found significantly higher percentages of vegetarians and vegans than other surveys (for unknown reasons).

- Even though many studies tried to find the percentage of vegetarians and vegans in the U.S., it is difficult to determine the overall trend by comparing their results because most of them used different questions, surveying methods, sampling methods, etc. There is a need for a longitudinal study that would consistently use the same methodology to ask questions about long-term consumption.4
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Re: How Many Veg/Vegans Are There In The USA?

Postby JeffN » Wed Dec 19, 2018 10:42 am

This is exactly why that while the “vegan” movement may have benefit to the animals and perhaps some for the environment, it will not be about healthy food

In Health
Jeff

The Vegetarians at the Gate
Many vegans want to destroy the modern food system. Investor Chris Kerr wants to use it to take plant-based products mainstream.
Bloomberg
12/19/2018

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features ... t-the-gate

“Yet even as Kerr tirelessly promotes vegan eating, he’s exposing a tension at the heart of the boom. For decades, veganism has been rooted in the counterculture and in rejection of the animal-derived, heavily processed, sodium-laden pathologies of the modern food system. Yet for the diet to enter the mainstream, it will almost certainly have to be companies in that same food system, using many of the same practices, that bring it to mass-market scale. To go truly global, in other words, vegan foods must be financialized and industrialized. And Kerr wants to be the guy to do it.

“But with the same companies that dominate the existing food business moving to do the same with vegan products, some activists and nutritionists fear there’s a real risk of replicating many of that industry’s existing problems. The most obvious pertain to health. In principle, an animal-free diet can be more healthful than a carnivorous one—lower in cholesterol and calories and higher in fiber, magnesium, and several key vitamins (though nutritionists often recommend supplements to make up for deficiencies in others). But many of the most heralded vegetable-based products may be worse for you—or at least not much better—than their conventional equivalents. The Impossible Burger, made from wheat, soy, and potato, is more calorific than a lean beef patty and contains seven times more sodium, though no cholesterol. One tablespoon of coconut oil—the main ingredient in Numu, the New Crop-backed mozzarella substitute—contains almost the recommended daily limit for saturated fat.

The underlying concern is that the rise of Big Vegan will give plant-based eating a hard push in the direction of so-called hyperpalatable foods, calculated to encourage addiction by flooding the brain with the pleasurable effects of fat and salt. New food technologies can undoubtedly make some difference, but there’s a good reason that vegan diets, which in their traditional form tended to be light on flavors humans are hard-wired to desire, have never before been popular.“
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Re: How Many Veg/Vegans Are There In The USA?

Postby JeffN » Wed Apr 24, 2019 10:07 am

The VRG just commissioned another survey.

Bottom line... the actual amount of vegans and vegetarians has not changed

TOTALS
4% Vegetarian (Including Vegans) (Never eats meat, fish, seafood, or poultry)
2% Vegan (Never eats meat, fish, poultry, dairy, or eggs)

With all the media attention and industry interest, I would have thought we might see a minor temporary bump, but we didn’t (if you average out all the numbers from the past surveys.) Nor did we see anything close to the 600% increase that has been touted in many Vegan circles.

There wasn’t even that much change in the groups of people who just may include more vegan and/or vegetarian meals.

This group has been running these surveys consistently and longer then anyone else and here is what they said...

“In the March 7th poll, two percent 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, while 4% of Americans said they were vegetarian in the March 7 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 one percent 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 soy milk through the mail, as it wasn't available in supermarkets.”


20% Sometimes or always eats Vegan Meals When Eating Out
46% Sometimes or always eats Vegetarian Meals When Eating Out
2% 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.
4% I never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry when eating out or getting takeout, but eat one or more of these foods at home.
16% When eating out or getting takeout, I sometimes eat meals without meat, fish, poultry, dairy, or eggs.
21% When eating out or getting takeout, I sometimes eat meals without meat, fish, or poultry.
54% None of these

You can read the compete survey and results here...

https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/Polls/2019_adults_veg.htm

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Re: How Many Veg/Vegans Are There In The USA?

Postby JeffN » Sat Jul 27, 2019 5:35 am

I’ve always said, I don’t need or want a vegan restaurant as most of the time, I can’t eat their food as it’s not healthy and my family and friends don’t want to go. I just want a restaurant to have one or two healthy options that meet my needs and that we can all go to. This is why my favorite “vegan” restaurants were Sweet Tomatoes/Soup Plantation, Beverly HIlls Cafe, SE Asian (Japanese/Thai/Chinese) and steakhouses especially Ruth’s Chris. :).

In Health
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Vegan restaurants are closing across the UK because not enough people follow the diet to sustain them, analysis finds
The Telegraph
Helena Horton
26 JULY 2019

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/0 ... le-follow/

"Although veganism is gaining prominence and demand for vegan products seems to have soared, actually only a very small percentage of people identify as vegans, just 1.16 per cent in 2018 according to The Vegan Society.

"Other figures show that around 21 per cent identify as flexitarian so, although they may be looking to reduce meat consumption, they don't identify as vegan and choice is still a major issue.

"Successful businesses thrive when they adapt to changing consumer tastes and offer variety.

"By offering exclusively vegan food, some venues may have made it more difficult for themselves to reach the majority of customers."
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Re: How Many Veg/Vegans Are There In The USA?

Postby JeffN » Mon Nov 14, 2022 9:35 am

JeffN wrote:This is from the most recent 2016 poll:

"According to a nationwide poll in 2016, approximately 3.3% of American adults are vegetarian or vegan (never eat meat, poultry, or fish), and about 46% of vegetarians are vegan (1.5%)."

Here are the results of all the surveys from 1994 to 2016:

1) The VRG has been conducting & collecting surveys and organizing the results for a long time and the results this year are virtually the same as many years ago. You can see the prior survey results at the link at the bottom of the article. We consistently see about 3-5% are vegetarian and about 1-1.5% are true dietary vegans.

http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/Polls/2016_adults_veg.htm

Here are the numbers for each year's poll, who conducted the poll, and the number of subjects polled. I would recommend reading the above site for the details on each poll as it helps to put any changes in perspective. There is also a +/-3% margin of error, so any of these changes could really just be mostly noise.

1994. Roper. (1,978)
1% Veg
? Vegan

1998. Roper (1,960)
1% Veg
? Vegan

2000 Zogby (968 adults)
2.5% Veg
0.9% Vegan

2003 Harris (1,031 adults)
2.8% Veg
1.8% Vegan

2006 Harris (1,000 adults)
2.3% Veg
1.4% Vegan

2009 Harris (2,397)
3.4% Veg
.8-1.3% Vegan

2011 Harris (1,010)
5% Veg
2.5% Vegan

2012 Harris (2,030)
4% Veg
1% Vegan

2015 Harris (2,000+)
3.4% Veg
.5% Vegan

2016 (1) Harris (2,015)
3% Veg
1.5% Vegan

2016 (2) Harris. (2,015)
3.3% Veg
1.65% Vegan

I made a graph of these numbers;
.

I thought I would update this with the latest VRG polls…


2019 TOTALS (Harris)
4% Vegetarian (Including Vegans) (Never eats meat, fish, seafood, or poultry)
2% Vegan (Never eats meat, fish, poultry, dairy, or eggs)

2020 TOTALS (Harris)
6% Vegetarian (Including Vegans) (Never eats meat, fish, seafood, or poultry)
3% Vegan (Never eats meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs)

2022 TOTALS (YouGov)
3% Vegan
3% Vegetarian (not including vegan)

In 2022 they used a different poll company.

I still don't see any signs of explosive (or even steady) growth.

If you check google trends for “vegan” and “vegan diet,” (which these surveys are asking about) they have been trending down for the last 5 years.

To put it all in perspective, i would recommend reviewing the full thread

Jeff
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