NATIONAL NEWS (BALTIMORE, Md.) — — Food companies, marketers, researchers, students, and media for years have been asking us about the number of vegetarians and vegans, said The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG). To help answer this question, VRG commissioned The Harris Poll to conduct a nationally representative online poll of 2,096 U.S. adults aged 18 and over.
They asked: Which one, if any, of the following best describes your eating behavior? Please select the option that best applies.
1) I never eat meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs
2) I never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry
3) I sometimes eat meals without meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs
4) I sometimes eat meals without meat, fish, seafood, or poultry
5) I usually eat meals without meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs
6) I usually eat meals without meat, fish, seafood, or poultry
7) None of these
VRG considered those who never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry; plus those who never eat meat, fish, seafood, poultry, dairy, or eggs, as vegetarian. They classified that second category of vegetarians who don’t eat dairy or eggs also as vegan. Because they use the word “never” and don’t just ask if a person considers him/herself vegetarian or vegan, their numbers may be lower than those reported in other polls.
Sixty-seven percent of adults in the United States always, sometimes, or usually eat vegetarian meals (including vegan), while 33% presumably never have vegetarian meals or vegan meals. Thirty-three percent of adults always, sometimes, or usually eat vegan meals. Five percent are vegetarians, with over half (3%) also being vegan.
SURVEY METHOD:
This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of The Vegetarian Resource Group from January 6-8, 2026, among 2,096 adults ages 18 and older. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to plus or minus 2.5 percentage points using a 95% confidence level.
For more information on this VRG survey and VRG polls since 1994, go to https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faq.htm#poll
For more information, contact The Vegetarian Resource Group at vrg (at) vrg (dot) org or (410) 366-8343.
ABOUT THE VEGETARIAN RESOURCE GROUP
The Vegetarian Resource Group is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization which educates the public about veganism and is publisher of Vegan Journal. A vegetarian does not eat meat, fish, or poultry. A vegan is a vegetarian who does not use other animal products such as eggs and dairy milk. For more information on veganism, restaurants to eat vegan, eating vegan on a budget, which plant milk is best, and The Vegetarian Resource Group visit https://www.vrg.org/
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