“Vegetarian” covers a lot of ground. Someone who eats fish every day calls themselves vegetarian. So does someone who hasn’t touched an animal product in a decade. Both are technically correct — and that’s what makes the term confusing. Here’s a breakdown of the main categories, from most plant-exclusive to most flexible, with some numbers on how many people actually fall into each.
Vegan
No animal products at all — no meat, fish, poultry, dairy, eggs, or honey. Many vegans also avoid animal-derived materials like leather, wool, and beeswax outside of food.
It’s the most restrictive category, and the numbers reflect that. Globally, an estimated 1.1% of the population — around 88 million people — identify as vegan. In the US, surveys consistently put it at 2–3%, which translates to roughly 6.5–10 million Americans. It skews younger: veganism is most common among the 30–49 age group (4%), drops to 3% among 18–29 year olds, and falls to 1–3% among those over 50. More than 59% of US vegans are women. The UK sits at roughly 2–3.7% depending on the survey and year. Germany has the largest vegan population in Europe at around 3.2%.
India and Mexico are outliers, with some surveys putting self-identified veganism as high as 9% in both countries, though definitions vary widely across cultures.
Lacto Vegetarian
No meat, fish, poultry, or eggs — but dairy is on the table. Cheese, milk, yogurt, and butter are all fine.
This is one of the oldest and most culturally embedded forms of vegetarianism, particularly in South Asia. India leads the world in vegetarianism overall, with estimates ranging from 20% to 39% of the population eating this way, driven largely by Hindu and Jain religious traditions.
Ovo Vegetarian
No meat, fish, poultry, or dairy — but eggs are included. Less common than lacto vegetarianism, and less frequently self-identified as a distinct category. People who eat this way tend to cite dairy intolerance or ethical objections to the dairy industry specifically.
Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian
The most common form of vegetarianism in Western countries. No meat, fish, or poultry, but dairy and eggs are both included. When someone in Europe or North America says “I’m vegetarian,” this is usually what they mean.
In the US, about 5% of adults identify as vegetarian overall — roughly 16 million people — and the majority fall into this lacto-ovo category. Women make up the larger share: around 60% of US vegetarians are female, and the diet is most prevalent among younger adults. Forbes puts the combined US vegetarian and vegan figure at 8% of the adult population. Germany reports around 8% vegetarian by this definition.
Pescatarian
Plant-based diet plus fish and seafood — no land animal meat. Technically not vegetarian by most definitions, but it’s often grouped alongside vegetarian diets because it eliminates the majority of animal flesh consumption.
Pescatarianism is particularly common among people who are reducing meat for health or environmental reasons but aren’t ready to cut out seafood. In the UK, around 4% of the population identifies as pescatarian. US numbers are harder to pin down since pescatarians often self-identify simply as “vegetarian,” but it’s estimated to be a comparable or slightly larger share than strict vegetarianism in many surveys.
Pollotarian
Poultry but no red meat or fish. Less commonly discussed than pescatarianism, but the pattern exists — particularly among people who avoid red meat for health reasons (cardiovascular disease risk, processed meat concerns) while keeping chicken and turkey in rotation.
Like pescatarianism, it’s not technically vegetarian, but it represents a meaningful reduction in overall meat consumption.
Flexitarian
Primarily plant-based, with meat and animal products eaten occasionally and intentionally rather than by default. No strict rules — the defining characteristic is that meat is the exception, not the centerpiece.
This is by far the largest and fastest-growing category. In Europe, flexitarians made up around 30% of the population as of recent surveys, with Germany reporting as many as 55% of its citizens identifying this way. In the US, estimates range from 11% (Statista, 2024) to 47% depending on how the question is framed — the higher figures come from surveys asking whether respondents eat more plant-based meals than meat, while stricter definitions land closer to 11–14%. About 23% of Americans report actively eating less meat than they used to. France had flexitarians in nearly half of all households as of 2021.
The numbers move around a lot because “flexitarian” is self-defined. Someone who skips meat one day a week and someone who eats it once a month might both use the same label.
A Note on Raw Veganism and Fruitarianism
Two sub-categories worth knowing about, especially if you run into them:
Raw vegan: Vegan diet with the additional restriction that food is not heated above approximately 48°C (118°F). The reasoning is that cooking destroys enzymes and reduces nutritional value. The evidence for this is mixed, and some nutrients are actually more bioavailable when cooked.
Fruitarian: A subset of raw veganism where the diet consists primarily or entirely of raw fruits, seeds, and nuts — foods that can be harvested without killing the plant. Very small numbers; nutritionally challenging to sustain.
The Bigger Picture
About 22% of the global population eats vegetarian diets of some kind, according to a widely cited estimate — though that figure is heavily skewed by South and Southeast Asia, where plant-based eating is culturally the norm rather than a deliberate lifestyle choice.
In countries where meat has historically been central to the diet, the shift is happening more slowly but visibly. In the EU, 11.1% of people reported following a flexitarian diet in 2021, with 23% saying they were actively limiting meat intake. Plant-based food retail sales in the UK alone hit £898 million in the year ending January 2025.
The plant-based diet market globally is projected to grow from $53.3 billion in 2025 to $170.7 billion by 2032 — driven not primarily by vegans and vegetarians, but by the much larger population of flexitarians eating fewer animal products across the week.
That’s where the real movement is: not in the strict categories, but in the middle.
