Large vegan study identifies four vegan lifestyles in the DACH region

The survey was conducted as an online survey for the web portal vegan.eu by psychologist Guido F. Gebauer. 2,161 vegan people from Germany, Austria and Switzerland aged between 18 and 84, including 1417 women, 639 men and 105 non-binary people, were included in this evaluation. Statistical methods (cluster analysis) were used to divide people into groups based on their empirical response patterns.

Two large groups of highly consistent vegans

More than 83% of all respondents could be assigned to two large groups, both of which were characterized by a consistent vegan lifestyle and a far-reaching extension of vegan principles to various areas of life:

Commitment-oriented vegans (50.8%): The largest group within the vegan community lives a consistent vegan lifestyle, takes care to avoid animal substances in food and materials such as leather or wool, rejects the keeping of animals for human pleasure and is actively involved in animal rights. Many also try to convince other people of veganism and campaign for the rescue of individual animals. Veganism is practiced particularly frequently by members of this group for animal rights reasons and is experienced as an important part of their own identity. Members of this group are more likely than other vegans to also want vegan people as romantic or sexual partners and are also more likely to have vegan partners.

Lifestyle vegans (33.0%): The second largest group also lives a consistent vegan lifestyle and includes many other areas of consumption in their vegan lifestyle, including materials such as wool or leather as well as additives in food or materials. Pleasure-oriented animal husbandry such as zoo or pet keeping is also predominantly rejected. The main difference to the commitment-oriented vegans is that although lifestyle vegans are also often committed to veganism among friends and acquaintances, they are hardly involved in political activism. Veganism also forms an important part of a predominantly animal-ethically motivated identity for them, but is less pervasive in their social lives than for commitment-oriented vegans.

Two smaller and less consistent groups

Pragmatic vegans (13.1%): This considerably smaller group pays consistent attention to avoiding meat, milk, fish and eggs, but is less strict about other product areas such as leather, wool or additives. Pleasure-oriented animal husbandry is also less critically scrutinized. The subjective importance of the vegan lifestyle, animal-ethical motives, the desire for vegan partners and vegan sexuality are less pronounced than among commitment-oriented vegans and usually also less than among lifestyle vegans. Veganism is understood here more as a diet than as a comprehensive lifestyle that shapes everyday life.

Vegan border crossers (3.1 %): This very small group is similar to pragmatic vegans, but additionally does not pay strict attention to the vegan lifestyle at all times, even when it comes to meat, fish, milk and eggs. In addition, vegan border crossers pay less attention to hidden animal products or non-vegan materials such as leather or wool. Pleasure-oriented animal husbandry practices are also reflected upon less critically. The animal ethical motivation, the subjective importance of the vegan lifestyle, the desire for vegan partners and vegan sexuality are also significantly less pronounced in this group than among commitment-oriented vegans and also predominantly lower than among lifestyle vegans.

Interestingly, pragmatic vegans and vegan border crossers show a higher political and social commitment to veganism and animal rights than lifestyle vegans, who mainly live their veganism in their private lives.

This points to a pattern that is also known from other social movements, according to which socially committed people do not always pay the same attention to fully consistent implementation in their own everyday lives. Similar discussions also exist within the climate movement in connection with air travel, for example.

However, this does not apply to the largest and most socially committed group of commitment-oriented vegans. Instead, they combine a high level of personal consistency with strong social commitment.

High similarity between the groups in terms of age, gender and education

The four groups have a similar structure in terms of age, gender, level of education, country of residence and recruitment channel for the survey. The complete absence of statistically significant differences in the group composition with regard to gender and country of residence shows that the findings can be generalized to the entire German-speaking region and also do not reflect any gender differences.