Vegan statistics, facts, figures and studies 2023/2024

Are you looking for meaningful vegan statistics, facts, figures or studies? Then you've come to the right place! Veganism has developed from a trend to an integral part of our society - for good reasons. But how many vegans are there in Germany or worldwide? And what measurable effects do you actually have when you go vegan? vegan diet? Are there numbers and statistics? Logical!

In this article, I would like to give you an understanding of the most important statistics, figures, data and facts from scientific studies and surveys relating to veganism. Let's go!

Here you can find a brief overview of the statistics article in advance:

1. Vegan
2. Consumption
3. Reasons
4. Studies
5. Forecasts
6. Closing words

Notice: This statistics contribution is part of the Nutrition blogs. Browse through the blog a little more and learn, for example, how you can also stay vegan on vacation can or what delicious, vegan recipes you can try out.

Statistics and facts about vegans in Germany

Let's start right away with the numbers about the people in Germany and the world who live vegan or eat vegan. Here are some relevant statistics about vegans that you can use:

How many vegans are there anyway?

• In Germany: Around 1.5 million people in Germany are vegan or largely abstain from animal products.¹ Around 8.1 million people in Germany are already vegetarian.²
• Worldwide: According to conservative estimates, there are around 500 million vegans and over 1 million vegetarians worldwide.³ Adding up the number of vegans, it is therefore correct to say that there are over 1.5 million people who eat at least a vegetarian diet.

What distinguishes vegans?

• Features: The typical vegan is female, in her late 20s or early 30s and in transition from university to work. They live with a partner who is also vegan.₄
• Trade: 92 percent of vegans nowadays find more vegan products when shopping than they used to - in order to be able to eat a vegan diet all the time.₅
• Motivation: For 61% of vegans, animal welfare is the most important motive for their own vegan diet. Only 8 percent cite their own health as the main reason for changing their lifestyle.₆

Facts and figures on vegan consumption

The fact that veganism is an everyday part of our society is particularly evident in the Purchasing and consumer behavior. I also have some statistics for you:

• Milk: More and more people prefer plant-based milk to cow's milk. Global sales rose from the equivalent of 6.6 billion euros in 2010 to around 14.6 billion euros in 2018.₇
• Turnover: While sales of vegetarian and vegan foods amounted to around 208 million euros in 2010, this figure had already risen to 454 million euros by 2015.₈ The growth rates of sales themselves are also increasing from year to year. From 7.7 percent (from 2010 to 2011), to 14.3 percent (2011/2012), 17.6 percent (2012/2013), 19.9 percent (2013/2014) and 25.9 percent between 2014 and 2015.₉
• Restaurants: According to a survey by the ProVeg association, there are now more than 250 purely vegan restaurants in Germany.₁₀
• Seal: According to a study, around 58% of consumers are aware of the V-label, which identifies vegan products. In Germany, there were already 5,000 products in 2016. Across Europe, there are around 10,000 licensed products.₁₁
• Books: In 2012, only 23 books on vegan nutrition were published. In 2016, there were already 211 books.₁₂

Vegan statistics on the reasons for a purely plant-based diet

Of course, there are also meaningful figures on what motivates people to adopt a vegan diet - be it health, environmental or ethical. Here are some suitable vegan statistics for you:

How many animals are killed for nothing every year?

• Food waste: Every year, 356 million kilograms of meat are thrown away in Germany. This means that 45 million chickens, 4 million pigs and 200,000 cattle die for nothing.₁₃ (Recommendation: Detailed article about world hunger)

Tip: I have given you a Live online counter for killed animals programmed. There you can see how many animals are killed every second for our eating habits.

What are the veganism facts about raising cattle?

• Cattle feed cultivation: Around 61.8 percent of arable land in Germany is used to grow animal feed and only 21 percent for direct food production.₁₄
• Cattle breeding: Today, around one billion cows graze on the world's green pastures.₁₅ Cattle emit large quantities of methane. The gas is around 25 times more harmful to the climate than the CO₂.₁₆ With 180 million animals, Brazil breeds the world's largest herd of cattle.
• Deforestation: The Amazon rainforest in particular is being cut down for pasture - 100,000 km² from 1996 to 2006 alone.₁₇ More at Factory farming, Deforestation of the forests and species extinction.
• emissions: According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), livestock farming causes almost 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.₁₈ On average, a vegan saves the emission of two tons of greenhouse gases every year, including 670 kilograms of CO₂.₁₉

How much water is used to produce 1 kilogram of beef?

• Water consumption: More than 15,000 liters of water are needed to produce 1 kilogram of beef. For watering troughs, cleaning stables and growing feed, among other things.₂₀ See also Environmental problem of water scarcity.

What other facts are decisive for vegans?

• Fishing: Fisheries pull around 90 million tons of fish from the oceans every year for our meals.₂₁ See also Statistics on overfishing in the oceans.
• Fish as feed: 40 percent of the fish caught worldwide are fed to livestock.₂₂
• Health: According to a recent study, vegetarians and vegans have a 22 percent lower risk of coronary heart disease compared to meat eaters.₂₃

Recommendation: Celebrities are also using their reach to ensure that more and more people opt for a vegan diet. In the article about vegan celebrities you can find out which stars are leading the way.

Valuable studies on veganism

The facts and figures from this article are based on many values from studies. Here you can find some of the most important studies on the subject of veganism:

• National Consumption Study IIMax Rubner Institute, Federal Research Center for Nutrition and Food.
• Analysis and valuation of the health and climate change cobenefits of dietary change, PNAS, Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food, 09.02.2016.
• Risks of ischaemic heart disease and stroke in meat eaters, fish eaters, and vegetarians over 18 years of follow-up: results from the prospective EPIC-Oxford study, BMJ, 2019.
• The Vegan Studies Project: Food, Animals, and Gender in the Age of Terror, Laura Wright, 2015.
• Health and nutritional aspects of sustainable diet strategies and their association with environmental impacts: a global modelling analysis with country-level detail, Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food and Centre on Population Approaches for Non-Communicable Disease Prevention, 2018.
• Vegan Nutrition for Mothers and Children: Practical Tools for Healthcare Providers, Scientific Society for Vegetarian Nutrition, 2018.
• Reducing food's environmental impacts through producers and consumers, J. Poore and T. Nemecek, June 2018.

Notice: By the way, I have put together some more statistics articles that you can use to enlighten our society. For example, take a look at the article on Plastic waste facts and figures or via Climate change statistics over.

Forecasts about veganism

Of course, there are also scientific forecasts which, as always, should be treated with caution. However, such projections are generally based on current, i.e. realistic, conditions.

• All of them are vegan: If everyone in the world adopted a vegan diet, around 8 million lives could be saved by 2050₂₄, 49 percent of global CO₂ emissions₂₅ and health-related costs and climate damage of 1.5 trillion dollars could be avoided.₂₆
• Global sales: According to scientific surveys, global sales of meat substitutes and meat alternatives will increase massively over the next few decades and reduce meat consumption. By 2025, sales in the meat market are expected to amount to 1,080 billion US dollars and fall to 720 billion US dollars by 2040. Sales of vegan "meat products" are expected to increase from 120 billion US dollars (2025) to 450 billion US dollars in 2040. This will be joined by lab-grown in-vitro meat, which could generate global sales of 140 billion US dollars in 2030 and 630 billion US dollars by 2040.₂₇
• Agricultural land: Without meat and dairy products, agricultural land worldwide could be reduced by up to 75 percent or used for plant-based nutrition.₂₈

Question: Do you know any other statistics or facts about veganism that should not be missing here? Then please write me a comment.

Use vegan statistics!

Veganism has arrived at the heart of our society, as the data from the various studies described above should make clear.

Please use the facts, figures and statistics in this article to introduce other people to this versatile and, above all, particularly sustainable way of life. Do you have any questions, tips or suggestions? Then please leave me a comment below this article.

Stay sustainable,

PS: You can find out more about veganism in the article about the The connection between our diet and the environment. You can also read about the Sustainable nutrition inspire you. Have fun!

If you use any of the vegan statistics from this post, please cite the following source. Thank you for your support!

https://www.careelite.de/veganismus-statistiken-fakten/

References:

₁,₄,₅,₆ Skopos (2016): 1.3 million Germans live vegan, available at https://www.skopos-group.de/news/13-millionen-deutsche-leben-vegan.html. [24.10.2019].

₂,₃ ProVeg e.V. (2019): Vegan trend: Facts and figures on the veggie market (as at: 11.01.2019), available at https://proveg.com/de/pflanzlicher-lebensstil/vegan-trend-zahlen-und-fakten-zum-veggie-markt. [25.10.2019].

₇ Bayerischer Rundfunk; PULS Reportage (2019): Plant milk: How easy is it to make soy, almond and oat milk yourself?, YouTube, 24.07.2019, Web, 09.08.2019 at 16:20, in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxMNascXcHY&list=PLBKJiSqm23i06XfAmH9mL6Pc01i-yZ984.

₈,₁₂ Heise Medien GmbH & Co. KG: Statistics of the week - Food without animals (as at: 13.03.2018), available at https://www.heise.de/tr/artikel/Statistik-der-Woche-Essen-ohne-Tier-3991101.html. [24.10.2019].

₉ Vegan-News.de; IFH Cologne (2016): Meat alternatives at a glance - market development and manufacturers (as at: 05.03.2016), available at http://www.vegan-news.de/fleischalternativen-ueberblick-hersteller. [25.10.2019].

₁₀,₁₁ ProVeg e.V. (2019): Vegan trend: Facts and figures on the veggie market (as at: 11.01.2019), available at https://proveg.com/de/pflanzlicher-lebensstil/vegan-trend-zahlen-und-fakten-zum-veggie-markt. [25.10.2019].

₁₃ Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln: Tons of food in the bin? That sucks! https://www1.wdr.de/verbraucher/ernaehrung/rewind-lebensmittelverschwendung-100.html. [07.10.2019].

₁₄ Forum Moderne Landwirtschaft e. V.: Are the animals eating our grain? (as of July 2016). https://www.moderne-landwirtschaft.de/fressen-die-tiere-uns-das-getreide-weg.[09.08.2019].

₁₅ Statista GmbH: Cattle population worldwide in the years 1990 to 2019 (in millions of animals) (as of 24.05.2019). https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/28931/umfrage/weltweiter-rinderbestand-seit-1990. [09.08.2019].

₁₆ Federal Environment Agency (2019): Greenhouse gases (as of 06.06.2019). https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/themen/klima-energie/klimaschutz-energiepolitik-in-deutschland/treibhausgas-emissionen/die-treibhausgase. [09.08.2019].

₁₇ Umwelthelden e. V. (2015): Meat and soy: Why factory farming threatens the rainforest (as at: 23.05.2015), available at https://www.abenteuer-regenwald.de/bedrohungen/fleisch-soja. [25.10.2019].

₁₈ Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations (FAO, 2014): Tackling climate change through livestock (as at: 21.10.2014). http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/resources/en/publications/tackling_climate_change/index.htm. [09.08.2019].

₁₉ Utopia GmbH: Study: This is how much greenhouse gas vegans save (as of August 2019), available at https://utopia.de/vegan-treibhausgase-co2-137342. [24.10.2019].

₂₀ Federal Environment Agency (2017): Hidden water (as of 22.03.2017). https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/themen/verstecktes-wasser. [09.08.2019].

₂₁ Greenpeace e. V.: The hunt for the last fish. https://www.greenpeace.de/themen/meere/fischerei/die-jagd-auf-den-letzten-fisch. [09.08.2019].

₂₂ Simply conscious living: Did you know that 90 percent of the soy grown worldwide, 50 percent of the grain and 40 percent of the fish caught is fed to farm animals? https://www.simply-live-consciously.com/deutsch/ernährung-ressourcenverbrauch/tierfutterverbrauch. [09.08.2019].

₂₃ T. Tong, P. Appleby, A. Perez-Cornago; BMJ (2019): Risks of ischaemic heart disease and stroke in meat eaters, fish eaters, and vegetarians over 18 years of follow-up: results from the prospective EPIC-Oxford study, available at https://www.bmj.com/content/366/bmj.l4897. [24.10.2019].

₂₄ Springmann, M., Godfray, H., Rayner, M.: Analysis and valuation of the health and climate change cobenefits of dietary change, available at https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/early/2016/03/16/1523119113.full.pdf. [24.10.2019].

₂₅ Poore, J., Nemecek, T.: Reducing food's environmental impacts through producers and consumers (as of 01.06.2018). https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987. [23.10.2019].

₂₆ Springmann, M., Godfray, H., Rayner, M.: Analysis and valuation of the health and climate change cobenefits of dietary change, available at https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/early/2016/03/16/1523119113.full.pdf. [24.10.2019].

₂₇ Statista GmbH: Forecasted turnover of the meat market with meat substitutes and meat alternatives worldwide in the years 2025 to 2040 (as at: 03.06.2019), available at https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/426592/umfrage/umsatz-mit-fleischersatzprodukten-in-deutschland. [25.10.2019].

₂₈ Poore, J., Nemecek, T.: Reducing food's environmental impacts through producers and consumers (as of 01.06.2018). https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987. [23.10.2019].

1. IfD Allensbach: People in Germany who classify themselves as vegans or as people who largely abstain from animal products in the years 2015 to 2023, available at https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/445155/umfrage/umfrage-in-deutschland-zur-anzahl-der-veganer. [19.12.2023]. ↩︎
2. IfD Allensbach: Number of people in Germany who classify themselves as vegetarians or as people who largely abstain from meat¹, from 2015 to 2023, available at https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/173636/umfrage/lebenseinstellung-anzahl-vegetarier. [19.12.2023]. ↩︎
3. Veganivore: Number of vegans in Germany - 140+ facts (2023), available at https://veganivore.de/anzahl-veganer-statistiken-fakten. [19.12.2023]. ↩︎