A staggering 6.5 million Brits intend to go vegan, vegetarian, or pescatarian in 2021, according to a new survey commissioned by personal finance resource finder.com. Extrapolated from its representative survey of 2,000 Brits, finder.com explained that if everyone followed through with their resolution, more than a quarter (26 percent) of the British population would no longer consume most meat (excluding fish) by the end of the year. The survey also found that 470,000 Brits transitioned to a meatless diet in 2020—representing a 100-percent increase from those who ditched meat in 2019 (235,000 Brits).
Stephen Davis, Head of Performance at finder.com, who stopped eating meat for the first time in 2020, said the statistics reflect his personal journey. “I had been thinking about giving up meat for a while but the catalyst came when I watched The Game Changers on Netflix early last year,” Davis said. “Like many others I was surprised by what it showed and felt compelled to stop eating animal products. I have mainly stuck to a vegan diet since giving up meat and there has been a noticeable improvement to my health—I also managed to lose a bit of weight.”
Veganism by the numbers
According to the survey, the number of Brits who plan to go vegan this year is up to 2 million (four percent of the population) from one million last year. The survey also found that at a 40 percent increase, the vegan lifestyle saw the highest number of new recruits, with approximately 1.1 million Brits following the lifestyle in the beginning of 2020 and 1.5 million identifying as vegan currently. The survey also found that Brits identifying as vegetarian have declined by 10 percent during that time period—indicating that a portion of the population either went vegan or pescatarian.
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