Veganism
Animal products
Australia: Australians topped Google's worldwide searches for the word "vegan" between mid-2015 and mid-2016. A Euromonitor International study concluded the market for packaged vegan food in Australia would rise 9.6% per year between 2015 and 2020, making Australia the third-fastest growing vegan market behind China and the United Arab Emirates.  Austria: In 2013, Kurier estimated that 0.5 percent of Austrians practised veganism, and in the capital, Vienna, 0.7 percent.  Belgium: A 2016 iVOX online study found that out of 1000 Dutch-speaking residents of Flanders and Brussels of 18 years and over, 0.3 percent were vegan.  Canada: In 2018, one survey estimated that 2.1 percent of adult Canadians considered themselves as vegans.  Germany: As of 2016[update], data estimated that people following a vegan diet in Germany varied between 0.1% and 1% of the population (between 81,000 and 810,000 persons).  India: In the 2005–06 National Health Survey, 1.6% of the surveyed population reported never consuming animal products. Veganism was most common in the states of Gujarat (4.9%) and Maharashtra (4.0%).  Israel: Five percent (approx. 300,000) in Israel said they were vegan in 2014, making it the highest per capita vegan population in the world. A 2015 survey by Globes and Israel's Channel 2 News similarly found 5% of Israelis were vegan. Veganism increased among Israeli Arabs. The Israeli army made special provision for vegan soldiers in 2015, which included providing non-leather boots and wool-free berets. Veganism also technically simplifies the Judaic prohibition on combining meat and milk in meals.  Italy: Between 0.6 and three percent of Italians were reported to be vegan as of 2015[update].  Netherlands: In 2018, the Dutch Society for Veganism (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Veganisme) estimated there were more than 100,000 Dutch vegans (0.59 percent), based on their membership growth.  Romania: Followers of the Romanian Orthodox Church keep fast during several periods throughout the ecclesiastical calendar amounting to a majority of the year. In the Romanian Orthodox tradition, devotees abstain from eating any animal products during these times. As a result, vegan foods are abundant in stores and restaurants; however, Romanians may not be familiar with a vegan diet as a full-time lifestyle choice.  Sweden: Four percent said they were vegan in a 2014 Demoskop poll.   Switzerland: Market research company DemoSCOPE estimated in 2017 that three percent of the population was vegan.  United Kingdom: In the UK, where the tofu and mock-meats market was worth £786.5 million in 2012, two percent said they were vegan in a 2007 government survey. A 2016 Ipsos MORI study commissioned by the Vegan Society, surveying almost 10,000 people aged 15 or over across England, Scotland, and Wales, found that 1.05 percent were vegan; the Vegan Society estimates that 542,000 in the UK follow a vegan diet. According to a 2018 survey by Comparethemarket.com, the number of people who identify as vegans in the United Kingdom has risen to over 3.5 million, which is approximately seven percent of the population, and environmental concerns were a major factor in this development. However, doubt was cast on this inflated figure by the UK-based Vegan Society, who perform their own regular survey: the Vegan Society themselves found in 2018 that there were 600,000 vegans in Great Britain (1.16%), which was seen as a dramatic increase on previous figures. In 2020, a court ruled that ethical veganism was a protected belief under the Equality Act 2010, meaning employers cannot discriminate against vegans.  United States: Estimates of vegans in the U.S. in past varied from 2% (Gallup, 2012) to 0.5% (Faunalytics, 2014). According to the latter, 70% of those who adopted a vegan diet abandoned it. However, Top Trends in Prepared Foods 2017, a report by GlobalData, estimated that "6% of US consumers now claim to be vegan, up from just 1% in 2014." Vegans do not eat beef, pork, poultry, fowl, game, animal seafood, eggs, dairy, or any other animal products. Dietary vegans might use animal products in clothing (as leather, wool, and silk), toiletries, and similar. Ethical veganism extends not only to matters of food but also to the wearing or use of animal products, and rejects the commodification of animals altogether. The British Vegan Society will certify a product only if it is free of animal involvement as far as possible and practical, including animal testing, but "recognises that it is not always possible to make a choice that avoids the use of animals", an issue that was highlighted in 2016 when it became known that the UK's newly-introduced £5 note contained tallow.
Veganism-24