Nutrition and Wellness Food and Beverage
Vegetarianism by Country 2026
Country | Vegetarian Population (%)↓ | Total Vegetarians | Vegetarianism Data Year | Vegan Population (%) | Total Vegans | Veganism Data Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | India | 39% | 470M | 2021 | 9% | 121.5M | 2021 |
 | Mexico | 19% | 23.8M | 2016 | 9% | 11.3M | 2016 |
 | China | 16% | 168M | 2019 | 2% | 28M | 2019 |
 | Brazil | 14% | 22M | 2018 | 7% | 15M | 2018 |
 | Taiwan | 13.5% | 3.3M | 2019 | |||
 | Argentina | 12% | 5.4M | 2020 | |||
 | Indonesia | 11% | 30M | 2022 | |||
 | Austria | 11% | 993K | 2022 | 2% | 180K | 2022 |
 | Finland | 11% | 448K | 2024 | 12% | 660K | 2021 |
 | Vietnam | 10% | 9M | 2011 | |||
 | Chile | 10% | 2.5M | 2018 | 4% | 750K | 2020 |
 | Sweden | 10% | 621K | 2020 | 4% | 414K | 2020 |
 | Jamaica | 10% | 280K | 2015 | |||
 | Italy | 9.5% | 5.6M | 2024 | 2.3% | 1.3M | 2024 |
 | Germany | 8% | 6.6M | 2024 | 2% | 1.7M | 2024 |
 | Thailand | 8% | 5.4M | 2019 | |||
 | Israel | 8% | 640.6K | 2015 | 5% | 400.4K | 2015 |
 | Norway | 8% | 215K | 2020 | 4% | 215K | 2020 |
 | Canada | 7.6% | 2.9M | 2020 | 4.6% | 1.8M | 2020 |
 | Belgium | 7% | 800K | 2018 | 1% | 110K | 2018 |
 | Poland | 6.6% | 2.5M | 2017 | 1.8% | 536K | 2017 |
 | Ireland | 6.35% | 153.5K | 2018 | 3% | 146.5K | 2018 |
 | Australia | 5.3% | 2.5M | 2023 | 2% | 518K | 2020 |
 | Switzerland | 5.3% | 308K | 2024 | 0.7% | 50K | 2024 |
 | Ukraine | 5.2% | 2M | 2017 | |||
 | Philippines | 5% | 5M | 2014 | 2% | 2M | 2014 |
 | United Kingdom | 5% | 3.5M | 2025 | 2% | 1.4M | 2025 |
 | Malaysia | 5% | 1.6M | 2019 | |||
 | Czechia | 5% | 500K | 2019 | 1% | 100K | 2019 |
 | Hungary | 5% | 450K | 2022 | 1% | 90K | 2022 |
 | Singapore | 5% | 380K | 2023 | |||
 | Estonia | 5% | 53.2K | 2020 | 1% | 13.3K | 2020 |
 | Netherlands | 4.5% | 850K | 2025 | 0.7% | 125K | 2025 |
 | United States | 4.2% | 14M | 2023 | 1.5% | 5M | 2023 |
 | Japan | 4% | 1.7M | 2018 | 2.7% | 3.5M | 2016 |
 | Colombia | 4% | 2M | 2016 | 2% | 1M | 2016 |
 | Romania | 4% | 2024 | 2% | 2024 | ||
 | Greece | 4% | 400K | 2022 | 2% | 200K | 2022 |
 | Lithuania | 4% | 84.3K | 2020 | 1% | 28.1K | 2020 |
 | Latvia | 4% | 57K | 2020 | 1% | 19K | 2020 |
 | South Korea | 3% | 1.5M | 2017 | |||
 | Denmark | 3% | 180K | 2025 | 1% | 250K | 2025 |
 | New Zealand | 2% | 100K | 2020 | 0.7% | 50K | 2020 |
 | Slovenia | 1.9% | 50K | 2011 | 0.5% | 50K | 2011 |
 | Spain | 1.7% | 700K | 2023 | 0.7% | 380K | 2023 |
 | Portugal | 1.4% | 140K | 2023 | 0.4% | 60K | 2023 |
 | Russia | 1% | 1.4M | 2023 | |||
 | France | 0.8% | 375K | 2021 | 0.3% | 115K | 2021 |
| Total | 800.9M | 198.9M |
- A handful of data points were expressed as ranges and have been converted to medians. Original values are as follows:
- China has 50-70 million (4-5%) vegetarians
- India is an estimated 20-39% vegetarian
- Ireland is 4.3-8.4% vegetarian and 2.0-4.1% vegan
- Italy is 5.9-8.9% vegetarian (3.54-5.34 million people) and 0.2-3.0% vegan (120,600-1,809,000 people)
- Slovenia is 1.4-1.6% vegetarian (28,922-33,054 people) and 0.3-0.5% vegan (6,197-10,329)
- For countries whose data was collected in multiple years, the most recent year is shown
Vegetarianism is the act of abstaining from the consumption of eating meat and meat by-products. Below is a list of countries along with the number of people who are estimated to be vegetarians. Although some countries have considerably higher estimated reports of vegetarians than others, vegetarians can be found throughout the world.
There are many reasons people are or become vegetarians. Some choose to do so because of dietary concerns, while others do it for health reasons and goals. Some may be vegetarians more out of necessity as well. Whatever the reason behind being a vegetarian, however, there are more than a few who are cited as such.
