On average, 91 percent of people surveyed for Statista's Consumer Insights in 32 countries said that their diet contained meat – highlighting that despite the trend around meat substitutes and plant-based products, eating meat remains the norm almost everywhere in the world. To satisfy the world's hunger for meat, 373 million tons of it were produced globally in 2024. Because meat consumption typically increases as countries grow wealthier, that number has been rising.
In only three out of 32 countries – the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates and India – fewer than 90 percent of respondents said that they ate meat. The latter country had the lowest score at 56 percent meat eaters. The Philippines still counted 88 percent of respondents saying they ate meat, while that number was 86 percent in the United Arab Emirates, likely influenced by the large South Asian diaspora there. India’s penchant for vegetarian fare is connected to Brahmanism or Vedic religion, a belief system connected to the caste of Brahmans, which are highly regarded in the Indian caste system, making vegetarianism equally desirable.
In Western countries, vegetarianism is more often tied to concerns about environmental impact or unethical practices in meat production. Despite higher meat consumption in these countries, meat substitutes are relatively more popular there. For example, 19 percent in the Netherlands and 15 percent in Switzerland said they bought them regularly. In Vietnam, 22 percent purchase meat substitutes regularly - the highest in the survey. Asian economies produce many traditional meat substitutes like tofu and seitan, whose long-standing popularity is intertwined with the history of Buddhism in the region.
The conceptualization of foregoing meat not only as a moral but as an environmental act has led to meat-eaters also purchasing meat substitutes, as the overlapping of figures from the survey suggest. Regular purchase of meat substitutes was among the lowest in the meat-loving nation of South Korea, where only 6 percent of people said they purchased them on the regular.
