Global Context

The vegetarian population varies significantly by country. In India where the percentage of vegetarians is highest in the world, 28 percent of the population refrain from meat and any other by-product of animal slaughter. Germany is the largest vegetarian country in Europe in terms of number of vegetarians (about 7,000,000) while Sweden takes the lead in terms of vegetarian-to-population ratio (10 percent). A relatively small percentage (3.4 percent) of Americans adopt vegetarian diets, although high-profile celebrity vegetarians like Ellen Page, Brad Pitt and Ellen Degeneres added to the visibility of the lifestyle.

Religious faiths—Buddhism and Jainism in particular—account for the salience of vegetarian population in countries and regions like India, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Aversion to animal cruelty, concern over global warming, and health considerations also helped shape the vegetarian landscape worldwide. The only account of China’s vegetarian population which first appeared in a PRI article titled Vegan lunch: going meatless in Beijing says 4 percent to 5 percent of Chinese are “thought to be vegetarians.”

"It's much easier to find vegetarian restaurants in India than in China, and we have more options for vegetarian dishes," says Roopesh:"but I think things will change for the better for China as I now have many Chinese friends who are thinking of becoming vegetarians."

College campuses around the globe are gradually honing their appeal to vegetarian students. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) organization sponsors contest for the “most vegetarian-friendly college or university” in the U.S. and Canada every year since 2006. The 2015 winner Stanford University attends to vegetarian students by offering an all-vegan station, partnering with students to distribute vegan food and including a vegan member on its student advisory board. Warren Wilson University of North Carolina has an all-vegan dining facility, and participates in Meatless Mondays—a global movement aimed at making meatless dishes part of everyday life. A number of universities in the UK—the University of Glasgow, the University of Manchester, University of Bristol—offer at least one vegetarian entrée for every meal. In China’s Hong Kong, two top universities—Hong Kong University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong—both opened all-vegan cafeterias this year.