How many vegetarians and vegans are in the UK in 2025?

With many supermarkets and restaurants now catering to plant-based lifestyles, adopting a meat-free diet has become much easier and accessible. For some Brits, it’s as simple as switching your bank account, while others may find the change harder. We carried out our annual survey to investigate how many vegetarians and vegans there are in the UK.

Vegans and vegetarians in the UK: Key statistics

• 6.4% of UK adults are planning to follow a vegan diet in 2025, an estimated 3.4 million people, including 2.1% who are currently vegan.
• 4.3% of Brits intend to switch to a vegan diet from a non-vegan diet this year, approximately 2.3 million people.
• 11% of Brits are planning to follow a vegetarian diet in 2025, an estimated 6.1 million people, including 5% who are currently vegetarian.
• At the end of 2024, 12% of the UK population followed a meat-free diet, which is approximately 6.4 million people.
• A further 15% plan to adopt a meat-free diet in 2025, which would mean 7.8 million more meat-free Brits by the end of the year.
• Half of generation Z (50%) and over a third of millennials (36%) plan to follow a meat-free diet in 2025, compared to just 1 in 10 baby boomers (10%).

How many vegans are there in the UK?

6.4% of UK adults reported planning to follow a vegan diet in 2025, an estimated 3.4 million people. This includes 4.3% (an estimated 2.3 million Brits) who weren’t vegan at the end of 2024 but plan to start following a vegan diet this year.

How many vegetarians are there in the UK?

11.5% of Brits plan to follow a vegetarian diet in 2025, an estimated 6.1 million people. This includes 5.2% who were already vegetarian (around 2.8 million people) and 6.3% who intend to follow a vegetarian diet this year, which would work out at an additional 3.4 million people.

How many pescatarians are there in the UK?

8.7% of the UK is intending to follow a pescatarian diet in 2025, meaning eating fish but no meat. This equates to around 4.7 million people and includes around 2.1 million people who were not previously pescaratian but want to adopt the diet this year.

How many people follow a meat-free diet in the UK?

Currently, 12% of the UK population follows a meat-free diet, which is approximately 6.4 million people. It seems that going meat-free is still a popular trend, however, as a further 14.6% of the population, around 7.8 million adults, is hoping to be meat-free in 2025.

• Current diets
• Table

Which generation has the most vegetarians and vegans?

A meat-free diet is most likely to appeal to the younger generations. Overall, half of generation Z (50%) and over a third of millennials (36%) are planning to be meat-free in 2025.

In generation Z, 1 in 7 (15%) are planning to follow a vegan diet in 2025, including 2% who were already vegan and a whopping 13% who want to try it out this year.

When it comes to millennials, 9% are planning to follow a vegan diet in 2025, while 16% are planning to be vegetarian.

Unsurprisingly, the older generations are less enthused at the prospect of cutting meat out of their diets. Less than a quarter of gen X (23%), 1 in 10 baby boomers (10%), and 8% of the silent generation plan to be meat-free in any form (vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian) in 2025.

• Chart
• Table

Which region has the most vegetarians and vegans?

London leads the way in meat-free diets, with 2 in 5 residents (43%) currently identifying as a vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian or planning to adopt one of these diets in 2025. 1 in 5 (20%) are already meat-free while almost a quarter (24%) hope to go meat-free this year.

At the other end of the spectrum, the South West has the lowest number of vegans, vegetarians and pescatarians, with just 1 in 10 (11%) eating these diets. In terms of intentions for 2024, Scottish residents are least likely to go meat-free, with just 6% stating a plan to do so.

Region	Vegan in 2025	Veggie in 2025	Pescatarian in 2025	Meat-free in 2025
Greater London	10.77%	18.46%	15.77%	43.32%
East Midlands	6.16%	13.01%	6.84%	31.10%
North East	11.25%	13.75%	8.75%	28.83%
East of England	5.32%	11.17%	4.79%	26.73%
Northern Ireland	9.09%	12.73%	7.27%	26.14%
South East	5.41%	11.19%	9.03%	25.63%
North West	6.33%	9.05%	9.95%	25.16%
West Midlands	5.68%	11.93%	8.52%	24.71%
Scotland	4.81%	10.84%	7.83%	24.35%
South West	2.87%	9.20%	6.32%	20.84%
Wales	4.26%	6.38%	7.44%	18.63%
Yorkshire and The Humber	6.14%	6.74%	6.13%	15.74%

Methodology

Finder commissioned Censuswide to carry out a nationally representative survey of adults aged 18+. Between 4 December and 6 December 2024, a total of 2,000 people were questioned throughout Great Britain, with representative quotas for gender, age and region.