UK Vegan Stats for 2025 - Is the UK Leading the Way?

With it being so easy to be vegan now, are more people moving to the green side?

In January 2025, Finder.com published the findings of its UK study into vegan stats. Finder.com isn't a vegan website, and it's not a research website. Finder.com provides services around banking and finance. But, in 2024, they launched a survey into veganism in the UK, and what they found is a reason for vegans worldwide to be hopeful.

2.1% of UK adults say they are now meat-free

What Did They Find?

The 2024 Finder survey found that, of the 2000 people they asked, 6.4% planned to follow a vegan diet in 2025. This would mean an estimated 3.4 million people across the UK, and includes an estimated 2.3 million Brits who weren’t vegan at the end of 2024. Currently, 12% of the UK population follows a meat-free diet, which is approximately 6.4 million people. Most of those 12% are vegetarian, but veganism has seen the greatest rise in those who were vegetarian and not eating meat to begin with.

A 2002 article from Mintel.com said that 49% of British people are limiting their meat intake or have given up meat completely. This is an increase from 41% in 2020. These increases also coincide with the number of meat-free and meat substitute products that are available. In 2021, the global vegan food market was worth just under 16 billion US dollars. This is expected to rise to over 24 billion dollars next year.

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So, Who Is Going Vegan?

The majority of people going vegan are younger. 36% of Millennials and just over 50% of Generation Z planned to go vegan in 2025. If we include the 2% of Brits who are already vegan, this makes 13% of the population wanting to eat vegan. When looking at older generations, there is less change. Fewer than a quarter of Gen X (23%), 10% of baby boomers, and 8% of the silent generation plan to be meat-free in any form, whether vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian.

What Do We Do With This Information?

We push.

We keep going and we look to the future. If we keep going, with more people learning the truth about animal agriculture, we will bring more people with us. As the truth becomes undeniable to even the most stubborn meat-eaters, more people will turn their back on meat, eggs, dairy, fish and other animal products.

Sales of meat and dairy have already started to decline, but sales of meat and dairy replacements have only gone up. In 2024, total dairy sales were down 0.6% year-on-year in Great Britain. Meanwhile, plant milk sales are expected to almost triple by 2032. The number of pigs being slaughtered decreased in 2023 and again in 2024, with the price farmers that get dropping across the EU. But sales of meat substitutes continue to go up, with year-on-year growth predicted at 2.6%.

What is it that is making people change what they eat? The truth and the opportunity. More people know that animal agriculture is animal abuse. They are seeing the Instagram reels and TikTok posts showing the inside of farms and slaughterhouses. Supermarkets are stocking the substitutes and replacements, putting them on shelves with animal-based products as well as in their own section. This makes people aware of the products, while also making them easy to find. Next, we keep going. We talk to the people in our lives, and we post our own reels, photos and videos. But, most of all, we have to be living examples of what veganism is. That it is positive, that the food is amazing, that we're healthy, and, most of all, we do not exploit animals or the planet for the sake of pleasure.

Sources

Finder.com

Mintel.com

Viva.org.uk

Fortunebusinessinsights.com

https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/food/meat/meat-substitutes/united-kingdom

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