Health and Social Values Drive Hungarians’ Willingness to Eat Less Meat

What is it about?

Many people eat a lot of meat, but cutting back can help the environment and improve health. We surveyed over 1,000 adults in Hungary to find out what might encourage them to have one more meat-free day each week. We looked at three main reasons: protecting the environment, improving health, and caring for animals. We found that health reasons were the strongest motivator—people were more willing to change their diet if they thought it would benefit their health. Environmental reasons mattered more to those who had already started eating less meat. Animal welfare was the least persuasive reason. We also discovered that people with strong community values—those who care about others and society—were more likely to be open to eating less meat, no matter the reason. This suggests that encouraging a sense of social responsibility could help promote climate-friendly eating. Overall, focusing on health benefits and building a sense of community may be more effective than simply giving people information about environmental issues.

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Photo by Jacopo Maiarelli on Unsplash

Photo by Jacopo Maiarelli on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This is one of the first large-scale studies in Central and Eastern Europe to examine how personal values and motivations together shape people’s willingness to eat less meat. While most previous research comes from Western Europe or North America, our focus on Hungary reveals how cultural traditions, social values, and health concerns interact in a region with high meat consumption. By showing that community-oriented values can be as influential as factual knowledge, our findings suggest new, value-driven strategies for promoting climate-friendly diets. This approach can help policymakers design more effective, culturally sensitive interventions at a moment when dietary change is increasingly urgent for both public health and climate goals.

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