Articles
How Many Youth Are Vegetarian?
The Vegetarian Resource Group Asks in a 2010 National Poll
By Charles Stahler
Today we see commercials for soymilk on TV, veggie burgers in most supermarkets, and even vegetarian TV cartoon characters, such as Lisa Simpson. Vegan bakeries seem to be popping up in most major cities. National restaurant chains like Subway sell meatless sandwiches. In The Vegetarian Resource Group student scholarship contest, VRG has received entries from Texas, Kansas, and Louisiana, as well as California and New York. So what is the wave of the future? How many young vegetarians are there in the United States?
When asking about the number of vegetarians, you may obtain very varied answers, depending on how a person defines vegetarian. The word has a positive connotation, as illustrated by the many people who are not actually vegetarian, but call themselves vegetarian.
In order to find an estimate of the number of younger "true" vegetarians in the United States, VRG commissioned Harris InteractiveŽ to conduct an online survey querying eight to eighteen year olds with the following:
Please tell us which of the following foods, if any, do you never eat?
I never eat... Meat; Poultry; Fish/Seafood; Dairy Products; Eggs; Honey; I eat all of these foods.
The survey results indicate that 7% of 8- to 18-year-olds never eat meat, while 12% of males ages 10 to 12 stated they don't eat meat. In a 2009 Vegetarian Resource Group Harris poll, a similar 8% of adults said they never eat meat. Note that other surveys which don't use the word "never," are likely to find even more people don't eat meat.
In the poll, 3% of U.S youth indicated they never eat meat, poultry, and fish/seafood. They were classified as vegetarian. About 1/3 of the vegetarians (1% of the U.S. youth population) also never eat dairy, eggs, and honey, and were classified as vegan. One-third of the vegetarians (1% of the U.S. youth population) were vegan, except for honey.
Thus, about two-thirds of vegetarians (2% of the U.S. youth population) are either vegan, or vegan except for honey. When marketing to vegetarians, these numbers make a good case for producing vegan products, as well as creating items which will appeal to youth who are not vegetarian, but don't eat meat. Remember that vegans also tend to be the "activists," who will push your product or business.
We would estimate about 1.4 million youth in the United States are vegetarian, while about three million never eat meat. This brings up the "veto factor." When going out to eat, if one individual in a group of youth is vegetarian, the whole group may "veto" a restaurant which only serves meat, and choose a restaurant with a vegetarian alternative. So for restaurants, offering meatless options has more of an impact beyond just meeting the needs of the vegetarians.
See more vegetarian polls.
