I am a lifelong vegetarian, having been raised on vegetarian principles and chosen to stick to them after reaching adulthood. I'm curious how many people make that choice, and how many decide to reject this particular facet of their upbringing.
Are there statistics available on this?
What proportion of people who were raised vegetarian eventually abandons vegetarianism?
I'd be interested in either global statistics or per-country ones.
It's hard to find quantitative data on your specific question. Even on vegetarianism and veganism in general, there are only very few quantitative and representative scientific studies.
Faunalytics published a Study of Current and Former Vegetarians and Vegans in 2014, indicating that people who were raised vegetarian might be less likely to abandon vegetarianism than people who adopted vegetarianism at an older age or who transitioned to the diet more abruptly.
Former vegetarians were more likely to have adopted the diet at an older age (average of 34 years versus 25 years for current vegetarians/vegans). They also transitioned to the diet more abruptly: 65% transitioned over a matter of days or weeks, compared to 53% of current vegetarians/vegans.
And further:
Specifically, former vegetarians/vegans do not have as much longevity with their diet: about a third (34%) maintained the diet for three months or less, compared to 5% of current vegetarians/vegans. Also noteworthy is that 53% of former vegetarians/vegans adhered to the diet for less than one year, compared to 12% of current vegetarians/vegans.
