Where is vegetarianism most common?

Main points

• India has the highest vegetarian share at 29.5%
• Mexico and Brazil rank second and third
• The figures come from different years and surveys

Nearly three in 10 people in India are estimated to be vegetarian, giving the country the highest reported share among countries tracked by World Population Review.

India leads at 29.5%, followed by Mexico at 19% and Brazil at 14%. Taiwan stands at 13.5%, Israel at 13% and Australia at 12.1%. Argentina, Sweden and Finland are each around 12%.

The numbers show how differently vegetarian diets have taken hold around the world. In India, vegetarianism has deep cultural and religious roots, while in other countries, people may avoid meat for health, environmental, ethical, or personal reasons.

India's percentage also translates into an enormous number of people. World Population Review estimates about 276 million vegetarians in India, compared with around 29.3 million in Brazil and 23.8 million in Mexico.

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But vegetarianism is far less common in some countries. World Population Review puts Russia at around 1%, Spain at 1.4%, Portugal at 1.2% and Slovenia at about 1.5%.

World Population Review's dataset combines estimates from different surveys and different years. India's 29.5% figure is based on 2020 data, Mexico's 19% comes from 2016 and Brazil's 14% from 2018. Taiwan and Israel's figures date to 2015, while Australia's comes from 2018.

There are also differences in how vegetarianism is defined and measured. World Population Review notes that estimates can rely on self-reported diets, different definitions and surveys of varying sizes.

In some cases, reported figures are ranges that the site converts into midpoint estimates. India's underlying estimate, for example, ranges from 20% to 39%, producing the 29.5% figure shown in the ranking.