October is World Vegetarian Month, and in celebration of the occasion, Oliver’s Travels has completed research to find the most vegetarian-friendly countries around the world.
We know that travelling as a vegetarian can sometimes be a difficult task. That’s why we created our Global Vegetarian Index to rank every country from best to worst for vegetarian travellers, and discover the most vegetarian-friendly countries.
We calculated our Global Vegetarian Index for every country based on:
- Number of vegetarian restaurants
- Number of vegetarian restaurants in relation to population size
- Annual meat consumption per capita (kg)
Using these calculations, we found the Seychelles to be the most vegetarian-friendly country globally for vegetarian travellers, with a total Global Vegetarian Index score of 328.
The Seychelles’ top score is driven by its high number of vegetarian-friendly restaurants in relation to its small population and low annual meat consumption. In the Seychelles, only 35.6kg of meat per capita is consumed annually – to put that into context, the USA consumes a massive 120.2kg per capita of meat annually.
Also ranking high on the Global Vegetarian Index are Thailand, Malaysia, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
While the USA has the highest annual meat consumption, it also ranks highest for the number of vegetarian-friendly restaurants. However, the Seychelles was the country with the most vegetarian-friendly restaurants in relation to population size. Bhutan ranked best for annual meat consumption, consuming only 3kg of meat per capita.
The top-ranking European country on the Global Vegetarian Index was the United Kingdom, with a Global Index Score of 299. At Oliver’s Travels, we were delighted to find one of our destinations ranked as the best European destination for vegetarian travellers.
These were the top-ranked countries per continent:
- Africa: Seychelles
- Asia: Thailand
- Europe: United Kingdom
- North America: Belize
- South America: Peru
- Oceania: Solomon Islands
Main Findings: The Most Vegetarian-Friendly Countries Around the World
Methodology
To find the most vegetarian-friendly countries around the world, Oliver’s Travels created a Global Vegetarian Index to compare every country* in the world based on three factors:
- Number of vegetarian-friendly restaurants
- Number of people per vegetarian restaurant (Population size/Number of vegetarian-friendly restaurants)
- Annual meat consumption per capita (KG)
All countries were then ranked for each category and awarded a score for each category based on their ranking. Where two or more countries had the same value for one category, they were awarded the same score for this category.
Each country’s scores across the three categories (Number of vegetarian-friendly restaurants, Number of people per vegetarian restaurant, Annual meat consumption per capita) were added together to create the country’s Global Vegetarian Index score.
*The following countries were excluded from the analysis due to a lack of sufficient data available: Kosovo, Equatorial Guinea, Marshall Islands, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Curacao, Nauru, Tonga, Gibraltar, Palau, Micronesia, Monaco, Tuvalu, and the Holy See (Vatican City)
Sources:
- https://www.happycow.net/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_meat_consumption
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps–and–graphics/world–according–to–meat–consumption/
- http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4252e/y4252e05b.htm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_by_country
- http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries–with–the–highest–rates–of–vegetarianism.html
- https://vegetarian.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004716
- https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/
- www.au–ibar.org/…/2717-the–contribution–of–livestock–to–the–south–sudan–economy
If you’re inspired to travel after reading about the most vegetarian-friendly countries worldwide, check out our selection of luxury villas in many of these destinations. Contact our friendly concierge team if you’d like help booking veggie restaurants or organising food tours!
