What is a vegan?
Vegans practice and celebrate a way of living that doesn’t include any animal products or by-products. They follow the philosophy of veganism, which rejects the exploitation of, and cruelty towards, animals for any purpose.
In dietary terms, vegans don’t consume any meat, seafood, dairy, eggs, honey, and other animal-derived ingredients.
And, beyond their diet; vegans avoid animal products in clothing, like leather, wool, and silk, cosmetics that include ingredients derived from animals, and even entertainment like circuses or zoos that exploit animals.
If you’re interested in reading the facts and figures around veganism, the U.K. charity VIVA! has a great vegan statistics resource here on their website.
In terms of the numbers of vegans around the world, VIVA! says it is difficult to find accurate data about how many there are. But surveys put the number between three per cent of the global population – over 230 million people, and one per cent – about 79 million people.