Number of the week 5.3 percent of Swiss people do not eat meat

In Switzerland, 5.3 percent of the population, or around one in 19 people, no longer eat meat. And 0.7 percent of Swiss men and women are vegan. However, there are still clear differences in the choice of diet according to gender and age.

This is shown by a recently published analysis by the Swissveg association, which found that the trend towards a vegetarian or vegan diet continued in 2024. In 2015, only 2.9% of the population in Switzerland were vegetarian or vegan.

What remains is the still large gap between men and women when it comes to a meat-free diet. While the proportion of women is 7.2 percent, the figure for men is only 3.4 percent.

In addition, the younger people are, the more likely they are to avoid meat in their diet. For example, 9.7% of 14 to 34-year-olds are vegetarian. The figure is 4.6% for 35 to 54-year-olds and only 2.3% for 55 to 74-year-olds.

This means that every seventh young woman in Switzerland eats a vegan or vegetarian diet. The figures come from the annual representative Mach consumer study.

SDA