Veganuary, the campaign encouraging people to try a vegan diet for the month of January, has published the results of its six-month follow-up survey for 2023.
98% of Veganuary participants said they were eating fewer animal products than before they took part in the campaign, while 80% had reduced their animal product consumption by 50% or more. 28% had opted to remain fully vegan; the biggest motivator for this group was learning more about veganism, followed by discovering that being vegan was easier than expected.
Better health was also an important factor, with over 60% of participants seeing improvements in this area. 58% had more energy, 51% said their skin appearance had improved, and 43% saw a positive impact on their body weight. Of those who had not stayed fully vegan, a huge 96% said they were very or somewhat likely to try a vegan diet again in future.
The difficulty of eating out in restaurants was the primary influencer among those who did not stay vegan, followed by missing non-vegan foods.
“Long-lasting diet change”
The results follow a record-breaking year for Veganuary, with over 700,000 people from almost every country worldwide signing up for the challenge. Furthermore, surveys have suggested that the true number of participants may be even higher, with many people “unofficially” taking part without signing up on the website.
Veganuary recently announced that it is opening a new office in Spain, the charity’s eighth country chapter. Five million Spanish people reportedly identify as either vegan, vegetarian, or flexitarian, with a survey by Just Eat in January finding that 12% of people in the country were taking part in the campaign.
“These results show that, far from being just a one-month pledge, Veganuary is helping to drive long-lasting diet change around the world,” said Veganuary’s International Head of Communications, Toni Vernelli. “Cutting out meat and dairy is the best way to cut our carbon footprint. As an added bonus, nearly two-thirds of participants who stick with a plant-based diet feel health benefits as well. There is simply no downside to signing up for Veganuary!”
