12 million Brits aim to be meat-free by 2021

12 million Brits (23% of the population) say that they will be vegetarian, vegan or pescatarian by 2021, according to the annual diet intentions research from personal finance comparison website finder.com.

With 6.7 million saying they follow a completely meat-free diet already, this would mean 5.3 million join them over the next 12 months – a growth of 79%.

The vegetarian diet is set to be the most popular diet to take up. Over 2.5 million Brits are hoping to cut out meat and fish by the end of this year, which would take the total number of vegetarians to almost 6 million.

This is followed by 1.7 million who say they will become pescatarian and will join the 2.1 million of Brits who currently avoid meat but eat fish.

Over a million people intend to become vegan over the next 12 months, and this trend follows on from a successful year for the dietary lifestyle.

Finder’s research estimates that since the start of 2019, the number of vegans in the UK increased by 419,000 (62%). And this trend is set to keep growing: the number of vegans is expected to double by the end of 2021 – 2.2 million vs 1.1 million.

People struggling to completely give up meat

In Finder’s research last year, 11.7 million Brits said they would be meat-free by 2020, and this figure has grown to 12 million who say they will be meat free by 2021.

However, it seems not many were able to stick to a meat-free over the past year. Of the 5.2 million that hoped to completely cut out meat by the end of 2019, only 5% (236,000) have done so. One explanation for this could be a rise in the awareness of flexitarianism.

To see the full research, including breakdowns of which diets are the most popular in the UK, visit: https://www.finder.com/uk/uk-diet-trends