6 min read
Update: The 2019 Global Survey on Why People Go Vegan with over 12,000 participants from 97 countries is out now, click here to view it.
A while ago, I became very curious about what persuaded vegans to be vegans! But unfortunately, doing a Google or a web search didn’t get me any clear or up to date answers.
I thought why not find out for myself, and who’s better to ask for answers than vegans themselves. So I created a survey aimed at vegans living in Australia and I added all the questions that I was curious about. I created the survey hoping that it will also:
I believe that the more research done and the more information we have, the easier it is for us to emulate what is working and eliminate what is not. After all, It is our duty to spread veganism and get the interest of others in the best way we can. I am hoping that the information in this article will help you do just that.
But before you start reading the results, I encourage you to not only scroll through the stats but to also think about what they mean and to also share your opinion and ideas with everyone else.
Click here to go to the summary at the end of the blog, for those who wish to skip reading the whole article.
The majority turned vegan for the animals. I highly recommend reading this article by Ben Frost on why we should always keep morality as the core of veganism to protect it from being just a "faddy diet" or a "trend".
It isn't surprising that vegetarians are more likely to transition to veganism than meat eaters. The survey shows that almost half of the participants were vegetarians before going vegan.
I believe that we should talk to more vegetarians rather than directing all of our focus, time and energy on advocating veganism to meat eaters. Let’s also show vegetarians how easy and awesome it is to be vegan. Let’s show them facts and information that they may not have been aware of before, and most importantly let’s stop judging and mocking them for not being “moral enough” which is sadly what some people do.
This is one of my favourite stats in the survey for the obvious reason that we all already know: the very notable rapid growth of veganism in recent years. It’s an awesome thing to see and be part of.
Before becoming vegans:
I believe that the ultimate motivation of transitioning and staying vegan forever and never having a single thought about coming back to your old lifestyle is when you immerse yourself with as much information about veganism as you can, especially from a moral standpoint.
These include:
Videos, social media posts and online articles are an effective way to spread Veganism. If you spend a portion of your time using social media, make sure to share a few of those vegan posts, videos and articles.
Out of all the participants, Only 2.5% said they were influenced by public activism. The majority of them reported that leaflets and talking to activists in the street were what got them interested.
Only one person said that protesters chanting slogans in public was what got them interested in Veganism.
Approximately 60% of participants said that they have influenced or convinced someone to go vegan.
The survey shows that the most effective way to spread veganism is through influencing others around us.
Luckily, in the same survey, I have asked some open questions to find out how. These questions were directed at those:
There were more than 1000 written responses to those questions.
Remarkably, almost all the responses had similar words and phrases and the same experience and advice. So how did they do it? Here are the majority of the answers summarised:
I want to say a big thank you to all 726 vegans who took part in this survey to help with the greater good!
