The latest figures about people living vegetarian or vegan show an increase of 14% over the previous year and for the fifth time in a row, the association Swissveg announced in its annual report on Tuesday.
The association said the higher media presence of the disadvantages of meat consumption and the easier access to information via the internet as reasons for the increase.
in 2022, Swissveg counted 304,000 vegetarians in Switzerland. 42,000 people (0.6% of the 8.7 million population) ate a vegan diet, abstaining from all products of animal origin. This made up for the small dip during the Covid pandemic, Swissveg said.
More than half of the respondents said they eat meat substitutes.
Women and young
Overall, women continue to be more inclined to switch to a meatless diet than men and vegetarianism is more popular with the younger generation compared with the over-55 age group, as well as with university graduates.
A majority of the respondents cited ecological and ethical motives, above all animal welfare, as reasons for choosing a vegetarian or vegan diet.
The figures are based on the Mach consumer study. This is based on 14-year-olds who speak German, French or Italian. About 30,000 people took part in the telephone survey about eating habits in Switzerland regularly carried out since 2015. Since 2019, the survey has covered vegetarians.
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