# What Country has the most Vegetarians?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-most-vegetarians/368486>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 12, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-most-vegetarians/368486 "2006-08-12T21:09:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-most-vegetarians/368486/1 "2006-08-12T21:09:30Z")

</div>

and how far behind is the second country? Is per capita Income related to these figures?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-most-vegetarians/368486/2 "2006-08-12T21:20:00Z")

</div>

My guess would be India.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-most-vegetarians/368486/3 "2006-08-12T21:22:44Z")

</div>

> [@Meeko](#):
>
> and how far behind is the second country? Is per capita Income related to these figures?

According to Wiki, 30% of Indians are [vegetarians.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism#Country_specific_information)

Out of a billion people.

So, yeah, probably them.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-most-vegetarians/368486/4 "2006-08-13T01:38:45Z")

</div>

India is almost certianly number one. Huge base population and a high percentage for religious vegetarianism.

Number two’s a lot harder to figure. I’d guess the United States; population is about 300,000,000 and a quick online search says about 3% are vegetarians, so figure around 9,000,000 vegetrians.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-country-has-the-most-vegetarians/368486/5 "2006-08-13T01:43:54Z")

</div>

By vegetarian do you mean; ovo-lacto-vegetarian (included eggs & dairy), lacto-vegetarian (most Indian vegetarians), ovo-vegetarian, or vegan (no animal products at all)?