By Charles Stahler
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A 1994 National Roper Poll sponsored by the Vegetarian Resource
Group (VRG).
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Document Sections:
* Not an Easy Question to Answer
* Changing Attitudes Toward Vegetarianism
* Growing Demand for Vegetarian Foods
* Results of Earlier Polls
* Beyond Marketing
* Vegetarian Resource Group February 1994 Roper Poll
* Discussion of Results
* About this Article
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Not an Easy Question to Answer
How many vegetarians are there in the United States? After "What do
I eat?" this is one of the questions most commonly asked of The
Vegetarian Resource Group.
At least once a day, a reporter, a student doing a paper, a market
researcher, or a curious member calls VRG to ask us the number of
vegetarians living in the United States. Americans (and we suspect
also Canadians and other people in western cultures) worship
statistics and exactness. Even though there will be one answer this
week and another answer next week, people like specifics.
However, the answer to "How many vegetarians are there?" has to be
given in general terms. We can relate the different pieces of
information known and then the answer can be interpreted according
to the specific need(s) of the person inquiring.
Unfortunately, statements are often taken out of context and
repeated until they become truth. Because one person may be allergic
to a certain food, people will then expand that to the idea that no
one should eat that food. We caution readers not to do this. Please
understand that in science and life, though we generalize to give us
guidance, one has to look at the details of each situation, and then
make a judgment as to what the answer is under those circumstances.
Changing Attitudes Toward Vegetarianism
The attitude towards vegetarianism in the last twenty years has
certainly changed. In the 1970's and early 1980's when we did
outreach booths, often people would ask us, "Why be a vegetarian?"
We almost never hear that question now. Instead, people come by and
say, "I wish I could do that." They are looking for information on
how to eat more vegetarian meals. Working at a booth today, we often
have pleasant conversations with lawyers, bankers, C.P.A.'s,
construction workers, or men and women in motorcycle jackets with
tatoos.
Proof of this trend toward vegetarianism can be found in the grocery
store. Where Heinz used to be the only vegetarian baked beans
available, now there are several varieties on the shelf, from
Campbell's to store brands. As we previously informed our readers,
Archer Daniels Midland and Green Giant (Pillsbury) are introducing
the vegetarian (vegan) Harvest burger in about half the supermarkets
across the country this year. Where before you couldn't find Mexican
food, cakes, or breads without lard, almost all supermarkets now
have choices which are animal-free. If you think back a few years,
you will realize the magnitude of this change.
For those readers over age 30, could you imagine eating yogurt as a
child? Did you even know what it was? Though probably not one of
their best sellers, most stores in major metropolitan areas also
carry tofu today. And some supermarkets even have their own brand of
dairy-free ice cream.
Growing Demand for Vegetarian Foods
Businesses will supply products which customers buy. The changes
that have been happening are due to the public's demand for more
vegetarian foods. According to a 1991 Gallup Poll conducted for the
National Restaurant Association, about twenty percent of the
population looks for a restaurant with vegetarian items when they
eat out. About one-third of the public would order non-meat items if
they were listed on the menu. This twenty to thirty percent of
people interested in eating vegetarian food is fueling businesses'
need to add vegetarian items to their offerings. Any company
thinking about introducing new products will need to look at this
population.
For specialty products and options in restaurants and supermarkets,
we can see there is a pretty hefty customer base. This is probably
why so many businesses are jumping on the bandwagon to add meatless
selections. On the other hand, this number is still far from the
majority. That is why a fast food place may be hesitant to add a
vegetarian burger, or why a centerpiece of an advertising campaign
may still not be vegetarian oriented.
When making a marketing decision, a business will have to decide
whether this vegetarian-oriented population is their customer base
and if they want their business. If the answer is yes, they will
cater to them. If the answer is no, they may make different
decisions. In a similar fashion, though most of the population still
eats animal products, many natural foods stores decline to carry
meat because the purchase of meat does not fit into the buying
habits of most of their customers.
Results of Earlier Polls
This twenty to thirty percent of the population interested in
vegetarian foods is consistent with the findings of different polls.
For example, in a Gallup Poll done for Hippocrates magazine in 1989,
when asked to describe themselves, about 34% of people said they
were a "chicken and broccoli type;" 12% "brown rice and vegetables
type;" and 10% "pasta and salad type." Only 35% said they were "meat
and potatoes type." Five percent were "burgers and fries type,"
while 3% were "pizza and soda type."
If you add the brown rice and vegetables people with the pasta and
salad folks, about 22% would actually be looking for vegetarian
items. This is close to the 20% figure in The National Restaurant
Association Poll. If you note that only 35% were meat and potatoes
people, no wonder food companies are adding so many new "light"
options.
Yet on the other hand, the majority of these people with an interest
in vegetarianism are still consuming mostly animal-based diets. So
there are numerous markets for businesses. They need to figure out
which market to concentrate on, and how they will reach it. For
enterprising businesses, there is no question that there is money to
be made by marketing vegetarian products if done in the right way to
reach that audience.
Beyond Marketing
For marketing purposes, as explained above, there is poll
information available about the number of vegetarian-interested
people. But The Vegetarian Resource Group wanted to know how many
actual vegetarians are out there. This will give us a baseline to
follow trends over the next hundred years and more. Past polls have
given some indication, but because of the way the questions were
asked, we didn't have an accurate answer.
Most polls have asked people whether they consider themselves
vegetarian. In a 1977-1978 United States Department of Agriculture
Nationwide 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. Recent answers from other sources have
been around three to five percent or above. Vegetarian Times
magazine reported 7%, or 12.4 million vegetarians, after asking
people, "Do you consider yourself a vegetarian?"
These polls about the trends of the number of people being
vegetarian are important because they indicate that there is
currently a very positive image about vegetarianism. More and more
people want to be called a vegetarian. The drawback in these types
of polls is leaving it to the respondents to define vegetarian. So
the answer is not really indicative of the people who do not eat
meat, fish, or fowl and are actually vegetarian.
In one major poll, a question started, "Most people eat quite a lot
of meat. But some people are vegetarian..." Another question stated,
"During the 1960's and 1970's many young people got involved with
alternative lifestyles and activities. Regarding the following list,
which activities did you participate in?" Among the answers were
smoked marijuana, dressed like a hippie, or became a vegetarian. So
another problem associated with past polls was how the question was
asked. Certainly there was a bias.
VEGETARIAN RESOURCE GROUP FEBRUARY 1994 ROPER POLL
This Roper poll was a nationwide cross section of 1,978 men and
women 18 years old or over. Individuals were interviewed
face-to-face in respondents' homes. The sample interviewed in this
study is a representative sample of the population of the
Continental United States, age 18 and up -- exclusive of
institutionalized segments of the population (Army camps, nursing
homes, prisons, etc.). Validations were conducted by telephone on
all interviewers' work.
Following are the statistics gathered by the poll:
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Never Eat: TOTAL MALE FEMALE BLACK INFLUENTIAL
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Meat 6% 5% 7% 6% 10%
Poultry 3% 3% 3% 1% 6%
Fish/Seafood 4% 3% 5% 3% 4%
Eggs 4% 4% 5% 4% 5%
Honey 15% 15% 15% 20% 12%
Eat Them All 75% 77% 74% 70% 71%
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Discussion of Results
Marketing purposes aside, The Vegetarian Resource Group wanted to
find out the number of people in the country who are vegetarians,
that is, do not eat meat, fish, and fowl. We already have an idea of
the number of people who consider themselves vegetarians. In our
Roper Poll question, we asked, "Please call off the items on this
list, if any, that you never eat. Meat. Poultry. Fish/Seafood. Dairy
Products. Eggs. Honey. Eat Them All. Don't Know."
Please note that the key word is never. Our numbers could be very
different if we omitted the word never. Instead, our results were
mostly as we suspected.
The most surprising aspect of our survey is that up to one half
million people in the country may be vegan. That is they never eat
meat, fish, fowl, milk, dairy, or eggs. It is astounding that this
number could be so high in our animal-product-based society with
daily messages to eat some type of animal product.
Please note that because this is a poll, and we could not ask every
person in the country, we are not saying there are 500,000 vegans.
We can have some confidence in saying there are between negligible
vegans and 700,000 vegans in the country. Rather than a specific
number, what the poll tells us is that though vegans are not yet a
major percentage of the country's population, there is quite an
interest in veganism. The Vegetarian Resource Group has some proof
of this since we have sold over 26,000 copies of our Simply Vegan
book. However, remember these figures are not for marketing
purposes, as many more people may have a vegan-style diet, but may
not be strict vegans.
We can be 95% sure that 0.3% to 1% of the population is vegetarian.
That is, they never eat meat, fish or fowl. This is much lower than
the three to seven percent who consider themselves vegetarians, or
the 20-30% who buy vegetarian products, but still a pretty high
number, which translates into approximately one half million to two
million vegetarians, as we suspected. Taking into account other
polls we have looked at, we believe this figure as reflective of the
number of people who never eat meat, fish, and fowl, and is probably
accurate.
Though the number of vegans as a percentage of vegetarians seems
potentially high, we have been warned against using the statistic in
this way. Because of the numbers we are dealing with, at this time
we would probably have to do a prohibitively expensive poll to
really find out that information. However, our educated guess is
that if you only define vegetarians as people who never eat meat,
fish, and fowl, and vegans as individuals who never eat meat, fish,
fowl, dairy, or eggs, there could be a high percentage of vegans in
there (5%-20%), since most people don't fall into the never
category.
About six percent of the population never eats red meat; 3% never
eat poultry; 3% never eat dairy products; 4% never eat eggs; and 4%
never eat fish/seafood. As would be expected, the figures for not
eating these foods among "influential" people are greater.
(Influential people being politically and/or socially active.) For
example, while 6% of the general population never eat red meat, 10%
of "influential" people never eat red meat. We suspect the
"influential" category being a higher percentage would also pertain
to vegan versus vegetarians. Among the leaders in the vegetarian
movement we know, there is a higher number of vegans versus what
might be in the general vegetarian population.
As far as numbers for never eating red meat, the percentages were
pretty close between male and female, and black and white. The
biggest difference was between the South (4%) and The West (10%);
Conservatives (5%) and Liberals (9%).
However, the difference is not as great as you may think. You can't
assume just because a person is vegetarian-oriented they will have a
certain political ideology.
About this Article
This article was originally published in the July / August 1994
issue of the Vegetarian Journal, published by: The Vegetarian
Resource Group P.O. Box 1463, Dept. IN Baltimore, MD 21203 (410)
366-VEGE
For questions or comments on this article, please contact Brad Scott
at brad@clark.net. This article may be reproduced for non-commercial
use intact or with credit given to The Vegetarian Resource Group.
The contents of this article, as with all The Vegetarian Resource
Group publications, is not intended to provide personal medical
advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health
professional.