Ireland ranked top amongst EU Member States where people eat more fruits and vegetables daily. A study by Eurostat tried to find out the percentage of people consuming the recommended 5 portions of fruits and vegetables daily in EU through a survey in 2019. The survey included people aged 15 and above.
According to their report, 33% of the population in Ireland takes 5 portions or more of recommended fruits and vegetables daily. Netherlands comes second with 30% and Denmark at third with 23%. France is on the fourth place in the list with 20% of people taking fruits and vegetables daily.
The lowest daily intake was found in Romania, where only 2% of the population ate at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables, followed by Bulgaria and Slovenia (both 5%) and Austria (6%).
Women’s daily intake of fruit and vegetables is higher than that of men: on average, 58% of women reported eating 1 to 4 portions compared to 51% for men. The same was true for a daily intake of 5 portions or more (15% vs 10%).
Overall 1 in 3 people (33%) in the EU reported not consuming any fruit or vegetables daily and only 12% of the population consumed the recommended 5 portions or more daily. On average, over half of the EU population (55%) said they ate between 1 and 4 portions of fruit and vegetables daily.