Tuesday, April 15, 2008

How many vegetarians are there in the U.S.? The Vegetarian Times finds out.

A recent Vegetarian Times poll's results were released today. It looks like 3.2 percent of U.S. adults (roughly 7.3 million) are self-proclaimed vegetarians. Only 0.5 percent of US adults (i.e. around a million) self-identify as vegans. A 2003 Vegetarian Resource Group Harris Interactive survey showed results of 2.8 percent. But of course there's always room for statistical error, so it's not necessarily indicative of an increase.

By ''vegetarian'', both of these polls refer to people who at the very least don't eat beef, pork, poultry, fish (or any other animal flesh). I've been flabbergasted at the number of people I encounter these days who self-identify as vegetarians although they consume fish. Fish aren't furry and cuddly, but they're still animals, and if you eat them, you're not a vegetarian. Just like, if you eat cows, you're not a vegetarian. It's pretty straightforward.

2 comments:

The Vegan Snorkeler said...

It's cool to think that there are a million vegans out there!

M said...

Neat, isn't it? It would be interesting (albeit kinda logistically problematic) to find out how many vegans are in the rest of the world, too.