How many vegetarians are there in the world?

Question

I hear there's somewhere around 12 million in the US alone, but that's just what PETA said. And, well, I don't really trust what they say.

So, does anyone know?

Answer 1

There are statistics for the number of vegetarians in specific countries, but no reliable global data.

If you consider religions, dietary staples, food trends and available foodstuffs in both the most populous and the most prosperous countries, combined with available data from industrialized nations, an estimated 15% of the world is vegetarian.  Globally the word "vegetarian" means differing things, however, and many of these people consume seafood.

The World Population Clock posted a global population of 6,717,666,672 this morning, which would give us an estimated global vegetarian population of 1,007,650,001.

Answer 2

I think it might be about 15-20% of the total population.

Most of them are from India

http://indian-veg-food.blogspot.com

Answer 3

<5% in America, you can't use India as an example, that is a skewed result, considering that's what everyone eats there.

Answer 4

Well, everybody (at least i think everybody) in India is vegetarian considering their Hindu religion where meat is sacred. And theres about a billion people that live in India alone.

Hope that helps somewhat.