Veganism Around the World: New report maps global attitudes, diets, and market realities

A recent global report from The Vegan Society has provided one of the most detailed comparative snapshots to date of veganism, dietary behavior, and animal product consumption across multiple regions, revealing a complex picture in which interest in reducing animal products is growing even as full vegan adoption remains limited.

The report, Veganism Around the World 2025, was authored by Elise Hankins and Chris Bryant and combined desk research, original polling, and expert-reviewed country profiles to assess how veganism is understood, practiced, and perceived across 21 countries spanning North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific. The analysis drew on international datasets alongside a bespoke survey of approximately 2,000 respondents across 10 countries.

According to the authors, the purpose of the report was not to explain why veganism has developed differently in specific countries, but rather to map the current landscape and identify patterns that could inform individuals, advocates, policymakers, and businesses.

One of the clearest findings was that veganism, as a concept, was widely understood across all surveyed regions. Despite being coined less than a century ago, the term had been adopted directly into many languages, while others used close transliterations or culturally specific equivalents. In the 10-country survey, the most commonly selected definition of veganism described it as a lifestyle that avoids the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose, rather than a purely dietary choice.

In practice, however, the proportion of people identifying as vegan remained relatively small in most countries. Using data compiled from the World Population Review and original polling, the report found that vegan populations typically ranged between 1% and 3% in many high-income countries. India stood out as a major exception, with 14% of survey respondents reporting a vegan diet and a further quarter identifying as vegetarian.

While veganism itself remained uncommon, flexitarian diets were far more widespread. In most surveyed countries, between 16% and 30% of respondents described themselves as flexitarian, indicating a willingness to reduce animal product consumption without fully eliminating it. Japan was a notable outlier, with only 7% of respondents identifying as flexitarian, a result the authors attributed not to unfamiliarity with the term, but to limited cultural traction.

Public sentiment toward veganism and vegans was also more neutral or positive than media narratives often suggest. Across nearly all surveyed countries, average sentiment scores leaned slightly positive, with respondents reporting marginally warmer views toward vegetarians than vegans. India again ranked highest for positive sentiment, while Japan consistently recorded the least favorable attitudes, although still clustered around neutral rather than strongly negative responses.

Beyond attitudes and diets, the report examined the global footprint of vegan and alternative protein businesses. Using data from the Protein Directory and The Good Food Institute, the authors mapped animal product alternative companies, including plant-based producers and cultivated meat firms. The United States led by a wide margin in absolute numbers, while countries such as Singapore, Israel, and the Netherlands ranked highest on a per capita basis.

The report noted that several countries identified as early adopters of cultivated meat by earlier research, including Singapore and Israel, had since emerged as leaders in alternative protein innovation. However, other countries previously predicted to move quickly, including Japan and Hong Kong, had yet to translate favorable conditions into widespread commercial activity.

Restaurant availability painted another layered picture. Using data from HappyCow, the report found that non-vegan restaurants offering at least one vegan option vastly outnumbered fully vegan establishments. New Zealand ranked highest globally for vegan dining options per capita, while Taiwan led in fully vegan restaurants per million people. The authors cautioned that community-sourced restaurant data may reflect both genuine availability and the relative difficulty of finding vegan food in certain markets.

Importantly, the report highlighted that strong vegan restaurant presence did not necessarily correlate with lower animal product consumption. Several countries with high densities of vegan restaurants, including Portugal and Israel, also ranked among the world’s highest consumers of specific animal products such as fish, poultry, or beef.

To contextualize these findings, the report included an extensive analysis of animal product production, consumption, and trade using FAOSTAT data. High-income countries dominated global consumption rankings, particularly for dairy, which far exceeded all other animal products on a per capita basis. Denmark emerged as the world’s highest consumer of animal products overall, despite launching a national plant-based action plan in 2023.

Trade data further complicated the picture. Many countries were simultaneously major importers and exporters of animal products due to complex global value chains and re-export hubs, particularly in Europe. The authors emphasized that policymakers and advocates should avoid misinterpreting trade statistics without cross-referencing production data.

Google Trends analysis offered another lens on momentum. Global searches for veganism surpassed those for vegetarianism beginning in 2012 and remained comparable to searches for mental health, while significantly exceeding interest in climate change. However, interest peaked around 2020 in most countries and later declined, suggesting that attention to veganism as a term does not always track underlying structural change.

In their conclusion, Hankins and Bryant argued that the global picture of veganism was neither one of rapid collapse nor exponential growth. Instead, they described a slow, uneven shift characterized by growing acceptance of animal product reduction, expanding alternative protein markets, and persistent cultural and economic ties to animal agriculture.

For businesses and policymakers, the report suggested that opportunities may lie less in promoting veganism as an identity and more in aligning plant-based and alternative proteins with food security, affordability, and cultural preferences. For advocates, the authors emphasized the importance of tailoring strategies to local contexts rather than assuming that positive sentiment or strong vegan infrastructure would automatically translate into dietary change.

Overall, the report positioned veganism not as a singular global movement, but as a diverse set of behaviors and beliefs shaped by history, culture, economics, and food systems, with progress unfolding in ways that are often contradictory and region-specific.