Photo: Jan Landau on Unsplash.
More than a third of the people who tried vegan for Veganuary 2026 are still fully vegan six months later, according to the charity's latest follow-up survey. Of the respondents who weren't vegan before January, 35% have removed animal products from their diet completely, and 82% have cut them by at least half.
Veganuary sent the survey to 343,459 participants who signed up for its 31 days of support emails, and 1,730 of them answered. So these are self-reported answers from the people who chose to reply, not a measure of all 30 million people Veganuary estimates took part worldwide this year. Still, the picture they paint is a very happy one.
Here's how the full survey report breaks it down for respondents who weren't vegan before: 35% have removed 100% of animal products, 33% have removed more than 75%, and 14% have removed between 50% and 75%. Only 4% say they haven't cut anything at all.
That 35% is up on recent years. Veganuary's own six-month surveys found 28% still fully vegan in 2023, 27% in 2024 and 32% in 2025. (Each year's survey had a different number of respondents, so treat it as a trend, not a precise measurement.)
The people who stayed vegan are feeling it, too. Among them, 77% report an improvement in at least one aspect of their health: 63% say their overall health is better, 53% have more energy, 52% are in a better mood, and 44% each report better skin and a desired change in body weight. And 61% of respondents say Veganuary left them more inspired in the kitchen.
Food brands are playing their part. More than half (56%) discovered a brand or product during Veganuary that they still buy regularly, and those people were far more likely to stay vegan or make big reductions (75% versus 53%). And the change is spreading: 44% of those now fully vegan say at least one other person has tried vegan because of them.
Even those who drifted back are keen to try again. Of the respondents who haven't stayed vegan, 92% say they're likely to try a vegan diet again, and 91% would consider doing another Veganuary.
Veganuary published the results on September 29, saying five years of survey data show more than 80% of participants consistently keep up a significant reduction. Hannah Yates, Head of Communications at Veganuary, said:
We know that dietary change is one of the most powerful ways we can each act on the climate crisis. We're all feeling its impacts, from a summer of record heat to a winter that threatens intense storms and disruption.
The science backs her up. An Oxford University study in PNAS found that moving toward more plant-based diets could reduce global mortality by 6 to 10% and food-related greenhouse gas emissions by 29 to 70% by 2050. As Veganuary's Andrew Jolly puts it, "Change sticks when it becomes part of your everyday and part of your community."
Veganuary keeps growing every year. A record 30 million people took part in Veganuary 2026, up from 25.8 million in 2025 and the 25 million who tried vegan in 2024. Back in 2019 we were celebrating a record 250,000 sign-ups, and in 2020 KFC sold a million vegan burgers in a month.
Veganuary 2027 is just around the corner. January isn't just a month anymore, it's a beginning.