It is the upper class (AB) where the frequency of eating meat, fish, dairy, and eggs is lower among the various social classes in Portugal. This is one more conclusion from Centro Vegetariano's research. In September 2017 Centro Vegetariano (CV) organized a survey to learn more about the eating habits of the Portuguese population. A representative sample of the population answered a number of questions including how often do they eat meat, fish, milk and eggs, directly or as processed foods.
The respondents were classified in four social classes, according to Nielsen's grouping of social classes. The results of the survey show that from the four social classes considered, it is in the upper class that a smaller percentage of the respondents consume animal products less frequently. For example, less than 70 % of the respondents in class AB say that they eat meat and meat products frequently. In lower classes the percentage is always higher than 75 %. So there is a difference of at least 5 % between AB and the other classes. As for fish, eggs, and dairy, the difference between class AB and the other social classes is consistently more than 10 % with less people in the higher classes affirming they eat less animal byproducts compared to the lower classes.
Nielsen’s study for CV used a stratified random sample. 2000 home interviews to individuals of both sexes aged between 15 to 65 years old living in mainland Portugal were conducted with an expected maximum margin error of +/- 2.2 for a degree of confidence of 95%. Such interviews were conducted in september 2017.
Translation by Nuno Henriques, proof-read by Dr David Weseloh.
Insert date: 2018-01-23 Last update: 2018-02-24
