The answer to who American vegans are has resulted in mixed findings. Most surveys generally put the count at 2-6% of the population which is up from 1% in 2014. Similarly Britain has seen a spike in those identifying as vegan as well. According to vegan society, approximately 1.16% of the Great Britain population (600,000 people) reported being vegan in 2018. This is a 4x (300%) increase from 2014, when 150,000, or 0.25% of the population, was reported.
When delving a bit deeper into American statistical findings the majority of those identifying as being vegan are shown to be millenials. In fact, according to Statista.com 7.5 percent of Millennials and Gen Z say they are vegan. For Americans over the age of 50 the numbers decline at 2.5% saying they are vegan with an even more drastic decline for those over 65.
What these findings show is that the younger generation is leading the way to a major shift in eating behavior and food choices. This is even more evident in recently disclosed financial data. Specifically, the Good Food Institute (GFI) and the Plant-Based Foods Association (PBFA) rcently released new data which indicates that the U.S. plant-based market is now worth nearly $5 billion. This was an increase of 11% in 2019.
Meanwhile, with the continued innovation in the plant based product market paired with increasing health concerns we are likely to see more of this change in consumer behavior.
Ultimately, we’ll have to wait to see just how influential American millenials are in changing consumer behavior across the nation. Who American vegans are and how that evolves may just surprise us in years to come.
