These surveys ask adults which of the six options best describes your dietary preferences. The six options are carnivorous, flexitarian, pescetarian, vegetarian, vegan, or none of these. Each respondent can only choose one of the six options. In the accompanying table, we provide a description of each of these diets, as described by YouGov in its survey.
The results are shown on the graph. 5% described themselves as vegetarian; 3% as pescetarian, and 2% as vegan. Together, they add up to 10%; this means that 10% of British adults report that they do not eat meat (but some of them do eat fish).
Another 16% described themselves as flexitarians, meaning they were mostly vegetarian but occasionally ate meat or fish.
These results are very similar to those of other countries.
in a Gallup Poll 2018 of the US, 5% of US adults identified as vegetarian and 2% as vegan.
in a wider survey of 2018 by Ipsos Mori – spanning 28 countries – 5% of respondents identified as vegetarians, 3% as vegans and another 3% as pescetarians. However, this survey showed very different results for some countries. For example, one in five people in India identified as vegetarian.
