Reasons for being vegan in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2021

As of December 2021, 89 percent of polled consumers in Great Britain stated that they were vegan due to an ethical motivation. These vegans view farming methods and killing of animals as cruel. Furthermore, approximately 40 percent responded that they followed such a diet, because of personal health reasons. The same survey found slightly lower results for why people initially become vegans. Among those who have forgone meat consumption animal welfare concerns are the most common.

Barriers for becoming vegan

During a survey in February 2019, 2.6 percent of survey respondents in the UK stated that they were vegans. Women had more health concerns over a vegan lifestyle than their male counterparts. Furthermore, about ten percent of respondents in the UK have a broadly negative image of vegans.

Quitting veganism

In 2018, the most common reason to no longer be vegan was inconvenience. Consumers found the diet to be too time consuming, lacking choice and lacking availability of food products. A variety of health reasons and lacking resolve were other big reasons to quit the diet.