Today, November 1, is World Vegan Day. Born in 1994 when the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Vegan Society in the United Kingdom was celebrated, and on the occasion of that anniversary this day was officially established as World Vegan Day.
Veganism is a lifestyle and diet that continues to gain followers. With this objective the association ProVeg It has been proposed to understand this part of the population in more depth, their motivations, convictions and consumer attitudes.
La vegan population In Spain there are a total of 276.000 people. According to Lantern's latest report, the majority are between the age ranges of 25 and 34 years (39%) and 35 and 44 years (30%). The majority of vegans are women, 82,61%, men represent 14,73% and 2,18% identify as non-binary (the rest of the sample has checked Other or preferred not to count) .
As for the place of residence, although it is true that there is a large concentration of vegan people in Madrid and Barcelona (27%). This data is not surprising given the great food offering in both restaurants and retail. It is also worth noting that there is a large representation of vegan people in rural environments (27,29%). It must be taken into account that the population in rural municipalities in Spain is 15,9% (2020). So the myth that “being vegan” is something for urbanites is not accurate.
Animals and the environment the main reasons for veganism
The main reason to follow a vegan lifestyle are animals. It is the option chosen by 98% of people. The environment is also another of the big reasons (76,93%). Somewhat further behind are own health (38,62%) and food/social justice (37,66%). Added to this, series/documentaries/movies (54,43%), social networks (50,06%) and information received through NGOs or organizations (19,22%) are the three main situations that facilitated the change towards veganism.
Vegan shopping habits
The supermarket is the preferred option when buying the majority of vegan products with 86,05%. Note that more than half (53,21%) also do so in vegan stores and more than a third (37,62%) in herbalists and organic stores.
As for the types of products, the classics win, plant milk is the product most commonly consumed by this population (82,78%). It is followed by tofu, which is consumed by 82,39%. Other products such as textured products are consumed by 63,67%, strips or bites such as chicken meat by 37,66% and seitan by 33,42%.
