Source: www.vrg.org
UNITED STATES, April 2010: In order to find an estimate of the number of younger “true” vegetarians in the United States, Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct an online survey of eight to eighteen year olds.
According to the poll, an estimated 1.4 million youth in the United States are vegetarian, while about three million never eat meat. The survey results indicate that 7% of 8- to 18-year-olds never eat meat, while 12% of males ages 10 to 12 stated they don’t eat meat. In a 2009 VRG Harris poll, a similar 8% of adults said they never eat meat. Note that other surveys which don’t use the word “never,” are likely to find even more people don’t eat meat.
In the poll, 3% of U.S youth indicated they never eat meat, poultry, and fish/seafood. They were classified as vegetarian. About 1/3 of the vegetarians (1% of the U.S. youth population) also never eat dairy, eggs, and honey, and were classified as vegan. An additional 1/3 of the vegetarians (1% of the U.S. youth population) were vegan, except for honey. Thus, about two-thirds of vegetarians (2% of the U.S. youth population) are either vegan, or vegan except for honey.