Consumption of fruit and vegetables in the EU 1 in 7 persons aged 15 or over eats at least 5 portions of fruit or vegetables daily … … while 1 in 3 does not eat any fruit or vegetables every day | WPN World People News

Regular consumption of fruit and vegetables is considered as an important element of a healthy and balanced diet. In the European Union (EU) however, slightly more than a third (34.4%) of the population aged 15 or over did not eat them on a daily basis in 2014, while less than 15% (14.1%) consumed at least 5 portions each day. This is the consumption promoted by the EU-wide "5-a-day" campaign, following a recommendation by the World Health Organization that individuals consume "a minimum of 400g of fruit and vegetables per day (excluding potatoes and other starchy tubers)".

The daily consumption of fruit and vegetables differs widely between EU Member States, with those aged 15 or over not eating fruit and vegetables on a daily basis ranging from almost two-thirds of the population in Romania (65.1%) to slightly over 15% in Belgium (16.5%). On the other hand, the share of those eating at least 5 portions daily varied from a third in the United Kingdom (33.1%) to less than 5% in both Romania (3.5%) and Bulgaria (4.4%).

Different for men and for women, daily consumption of fruit and vegetables seems also to be influenced by the level of education. The higher the education level is, the higher the share of the "5-a-day" population is.

This information, extracted from the European Health Interview Survey, is issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, on the occasion of the World Food Day (16 October).

More than half of the population do not eat fruit or vegetables every day in Romania and Bulgaria Among the EU Member States, the lowest share of the population aged 15 or over not eating daily a fruit or a vegetable in 2014 was recorded in Belgium (16.1%), ahead of Portugal (20.7%), the United Kingdom (21.3%), Italy (23.0%), Spain (25.0%), Slovenia (27.0%), Croatia (27.5%) and Greece (30.1%). In contrast, more than half of the population did not eat fruit or vegetables on a daily basis in Romania (65.1%) and Bulgaria (58.6%). They were followed by Latvia (48.5%), Slovakia (46.6%), the Czech Republic (46.3%), the Netherlands (45.9%) and Germany (45.2%).

Highest share of "5-a-day" consumption in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Netherlands A third of the population aged 15 or over consumed daily at least 5 portions of fruit or vegetables in the United Kingdom (33.1%), and a quarter of the population in Denmark (25.9%) and the Netherlands (25.0%). At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest shares of daily consumption of at least 5 portions of fruit or vegetables were registered in Romania (3.5%), Bulgaria (4.4%), Croatia (7.0%), Austria (7.2%), Slovenia (7.5%) and Greece (7.8%). At EU level, 1 in 7 persons (14.1%) aged 15 or over was a "5-a-day" in 2014.

Shares of "5-a-day" differ most between high and low educated people in the United Kingdom, differ least in Greece In all EU Member States in 2014, the percentage of the population consuming at least five fruit or vegetables each day was higher among those with a high education level than among those with a low education level. Overall in the EU, 18.8% of the highly-educated population aged 15 or over ate at least five portions of fruit or vegetables on a daily basis, while this concerned 12.1% of the population with a low education level (or a 6.7 percentage point difference).

Across Member States, the widest gap between low and high educated persons for "5-a-day" consumption was observed in 2014 in the United Kingdom (40.5% for the part of the population with a high education level vs. 24.9% for that with a low education level, or a 15.6 pp difference), followed by Denmark (14.3 pp difference) and Portugal (11.5 pp difference). In contrast, gaps of less than 2 percentage points were registered in Greece (0.9 pp), Germany and Austria (both 1.6 pp).

Geographical information

The European Union (EU) includes Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Methods and definitions

Data presented in this News Release comes from the last European Health Interview Survey (EHIS). The EHIS aims at measuring among Member States the health status, health determinants as well as use of health care services of the EU citizens.

The first wave of EHIS (EHIS wave 1 or EHIS round 2008) was conducted between 2006 and 2009. The second wave (EHIS wave 2 or EHIS round 2014) was conducted between 2013 and 2015.

The general coverage of the survey is the population aged 15 or over living in private households residing in the territory of the country. All indicators are expressed as percentages within the corresponding population and statistics are broken down by age and sex and one other dimension such as educational attainment level, income quintile group or labour status.

Low education level refers to ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) 2011 level 0-2: less than primary, primary and lower secondary education.

Medium education level refers to ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) 2011 level 3-4: upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education.

High education level, meaning tertiary educational attainment, refers to ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) 2011 level 5-8: tertiary education.

Source: European Commission