PRINCETON, NJ -- Five percent of American adults consider themselves to be vegetarians, largely unchanged from the 6% who identified as vegetarians in 1999 and 2001.

The latest update on vegetarianism, included in Gallup's July 9-12 Consumption Habits survey, used a trend question first asked in 1999 that does not define "vegetarian" in any way, but simply asks respondents if the label fits their self-definition. The limited trend data suggest that there has been no substantial change in the incidence of vegetarianism over the past 13 years.

Almost all segments of the U.S. population have similar percentages of vegetarians, suggesting that most stereotypes of who is and is not the typical vegetarian in American society have little basis in fact.

The biggest distinction seems to come in terms of marital status. Unmarried adults are more than twice as likely as married adults to be vegetarians. Vegetarianism appears to be slightly more prevalent among women than among men, and among those who are older than among younger adults, but these are not big differences.

Two Percent Consider Themselves to Be Vegans

In a new question asked for the first time, Gallup also finds that 2% consider themselves to be "vegans." As is true for the vegetarian question, the vegan question did not define "vegan" for respondents.

Vegans are usually considered to be those who make the decision not to consume any animal products whatsoever. The term may not be as familiar to Americans as "vegetarian" is, given that 7% did not have an opinion when asked if they were vegan, compared with less than 1% "no opinion" on the vegetarian item.

Vegans apparently view themselves as different from, rather than a subset of, vegetarians; most of the small number of respondents in the survey who said "yes" to the vegan question had said "no" to the vegetarian question.

Bottom Line

Vegetarianism in the U.S. remains quite uncommon and a lifestyle that is neither growing nor waning in popularity. The 5% of the adult population who consider themselves to be vegetarians is no larger than it was in previous Gallup surveys conducted in 1999 and 2001. The incidence of veganism is even smaller, at a scant 2% of the adult population.