Number of vegetarians in Portugal quadruplicated in 10 years

In September 2007, Centro Vegetariano, with AC Nielsen, conducted a survey to determine for the first time the number of vegetarians in Portugal.

Ten years later, a follow-up survey was conducted to determine the evolution. The results showed a considerable increase in the number of vegetarians, in the range of a 4-fold increase:

• The number of vegetarians has quadruplicated in 10 years. The latest survey suggests that 1.2 % of the Portuguese population does not eat meat or fish. In 2007 only 0.3 % fell into that category.
• The vast majority of the population (95 %) still include all the four categories of animal by-products in their diets (meat, fish, dairy, and eggs), while the other 5 % exclude at least one product or did not answer.
• The result shows that less people are frequently eating meat and fish. The percentages fell from 79 % to 77 % and from 76 % to 70 %, respectively for meat and for fish.
• The number of people following a vegan diet has also increased and is now at 0.6 %. This suggests an emerging growing trend towards a plant-based diet.
• Women (compared to men) and people aged 25-34 (compared to other age categories) consume less of all categories of animal-based products (i.e. meat, fish, eggs, and dairy).

Sample and methodology

Participants were randomly selected and the sample was stratified. The data was obtained from 2,000 personal interviews with female and male participants between 15 and 65 years of age living in Portugal. The expected margin of error is +/- 2.2 % . The interviews took place in September 2017.

Questions about diet

Similar to the 2007 study, participants were asked to indicate the frequency with which they consumed:

• Meat or processed meat;
• Fish and seafood;
• Dairy (Milk, butter, yogurt, and products containing dairy);
• Eggs or products containing eggs (cookies, cakes, etc.).

The response options were "never", "occasionally", "frequently". Vegans were those who answered "never" to all four questions and vegetarians were those who answered "never" to the first two questions.

Acknowledgments

Centro Vegetariano wishes to thank everyone who made this study possible, specially Collaborators and Members of Centro Vegetariano and AC Nielsen.

Text & translation by Ana Leite, proof-read by Dr David Weseloh.

Insert date: 2017-10-01 Last update: 2017-10-02

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