What percentage of people adhere to vegetarian and vegan diets in Germany?

Peer reviewed / Manuscript (original) submitted: 13 September 2022 / Revision accepted: 30 März 2023

An exploration of the research situation

Introduction

Plant-based diets are widely recommended for health and environmental, but also for social and economic reasons, and are increasingly in demand, especially in the context of the climate debate [1-4]. For example, the report of the International Panel on Climate Change [2] identifies a balanced diet consisting mainly of plant-based foods as very promising to mitigate climate change. Plant-based diets cover a broad spectrum, ranging from diets that include occasional consumption of meat and fish (often referred to as flexitarian), to diets that avoid meat products (pescetarian), diets that avoid meat and fish products (vegetarian), and diets that avoid all animal-based products (vegan; a form of vegetarian diet) [5, 6]. To date, there are no legally binding threshold values for when a diet should be classified as flexitarian or generally plant-based.

The above diets are associated with different health and environmental impacts due to the differences in food choice patterns [7]. Studies reporting on the percentage of people adhering to vegetarian and vegan diets in Germany have produced figures that differ markedly in some cases. This article aims to provide an overview of the relevant representative studies conducted since 2005 and to identify the background to possible differences. ...

Abstract

Studies reporting on the percentage of people adhering to vegetarian and vegan diets in Germany have produced figures that differ markedly in some cases. To investigate the reasons for this, relevant representative studies in adults conducted in the period from 2005–2022 were analyzed. In the 38 studies identified, the percentages ranged from 0.96% to 11.2% for people adhering to a vegetarian diet and from 0% to 3.2% for people adhering to a vegan diet, with an increasing trend over time. Higher percentages of people adhering to a vegetarian diet were found in particular when data were not accurately distinguished from people adhering to a pescetarian or flexitarian diet. In order to ensure that data are robust and comparable, future studies should be designed in such a way that diets are assessed in an accurate manner using clearly defined response options, and using control questions on consumption to allow the correction of self-assignments to vegetarian diets.

Keywords: vegetarian diet, vegan diet, pescetarian diet, flexitarian diet, percentage of people adhering to plant-based diets in Germany, plantbased

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