While being a vegan or vegetarian may be giving way to ‘flexitarianism’, it seems likely that an increasing number of people are reducing their meat consumption, and instead eating a heavily plant-based diet, a vegetarian diet (no meat or fish) or vegan (no meat, fish, dairy, eggs or honey, i.e. no animal-derived products).
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2023) Among people 15 years and over:
- one in 20 (5.3%) people were vegetarian or vegan
- females were more likely to be vegetarian or vegan than males in every age group, except for those aged 75 years and over where the difference was not significant (2.7% and 2.4%)
- people aged 30 to 49 years were more likely than any other age group to be vegetarian or vegan (7.3%).
While India is the leading country for non-meat eaters in the world (around 25% of the population vegetarian in 2021) the proportion of the population actually identifying as vegan or vegetarian can be much lower (e.g. 2% in Romania). Beyond strict vegans, nearly 20% of Australian are reducing their meat consumption, driving demand for plant-based meat alternatives. While veganism is growing in eastern states and capital cities due to the availability of meat alternatives and restaurants, this is not the case in many regional and rural areas.
Australia’s Healthdirect government website says plant-based diets ‘help reduce your risk of chronic disease’ such as heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, type-2 diabetes and obesity, some types of cancer, kidney disease, etc.
The rising cost of supermarket meat (beef prices in Australian supermarkets have seen a more than 50% rise in the last ten years due to overseas demand). Concerns about animal welfare are a factor influencing people to become vegan for ethical reasons, whereas the high cost of pioneering plant-based alternatives, and dissatisfaction with those products, has been a factor flattening the increase in vegan alternatives. However, whether you are buying a $30 steak from the supermarket or a $60 steak from a restaurant, meat is also expensive!
Environmental concerns are also driving the continuing trend to eat less meat. Eating meat, from ruminants (cows, sheep) contributes between 14% and 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions because livestock produce methane (a greenhouse gas 28-86 times stronger than CO2). In addition, livestock grazing causes deforestation. Although more than two-thirds of all agricultural land is devoted to growing feed for livestock, only 8% is used to grow food for direct human consumption (Stanford University).
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