Veganuary breaks sign-up records

Veganuary, the global organisation encouraging people to try vegan in January and beyond, has again broken all previous records and welcomed more participants than ever before with 706,965 people officially signing up from nearly every country in the world.

Only Vatican City and North Korea (where the internet is banned) are missing from the official list of participants for 2023 – the 10th year the campaign has taken place.

But even the record-breaking sign-up number is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg as several studies have suggested total participation in Veganuary is significantly larger than the number of people who register through Veganuary’s website, organisers say. 

In a YouGov survey conducted in January 2023, 4 per cent of UK respondents reported participating in Veganuary during the month, while a 2022 YouGov survey found that 9 per cent of Brits had  participated in Veganuary since the campaign began in January 2014. 

The campaign’s social media presence also continues to grow around the world with #Veganuary now having been viewed on TikTok more than 900 million times and over 300 million people engaging with Veganuary’s international social media channels in January 2023.

Launching its first month-long vegan pledge in the UK in January 2014, Veganuary has been increasing its global reach for several years; opening offices in the US, Germany and Chile in 2019; Argentina and Brazil in 2020; and India in 2021. Official Veganuary campaigns also take place in Italy, France, Switzerland, South Africa, Australia, Singapore and Mexico in collaboration with local organisations. Veganuary’s five-year strategy envisions the campaign expanding into a further ten countries by 2027.

Celebrities are increasingly drawn to the campaign’s fun, friendly approach to diet change with 2023 participants including Peter Andre, actor Diane Morgan, ITV chef Juliet Sear and Corrie’s Alexandra Mardell taking part in Veganuary 2023, while Lucy Watson and Alexis Gauthier became official Ambassadors for the charity this year. Previous Veganuary participants include rock legend Brian May, TV presenter Jasmine Harman, wildlife presenter Chris Packham, ‘dragon’ Deborah Meaden, Eastenders’ Kellie Bright and actor Peter Egan, all of whom continue to support the charity.

To enable people to participate in the campaign in ways that suit their lifestyle in an ever-changing world, Veganuary launched two new platforms for public engagement this year – a 31-day YouTube series providing helpful tips and advice, as well as a weekly podcast series with guests including Veganuary Ambassador Lucy Watson, Ella Mills (aka Deliciously Ella), gourmet French chef Alexis Gauthier and actor Danny Hatchard.

Reflecting on the success of the 2023 campaign, Veganuary’s head of communications Toni Vernelli said: “It is incredibly inspiring to see Veganuary’s participation and influence continue to grow around the world. As people become more aware of the incredible impact our food choices have on the health of our planet, attitudes towards veganism are changing everywhere and Veganuary’s friendly, non-judgemental, just-give-it-a-go-for-a-month-and-see-what-you-think approach has undoubtedly played an instrumental role in this shift.”