A 2022 study conducted by HappyCow and Veganuary found that the five most vegan-friendly countries in Latin America are Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Chile. The report shows that in this region there are more than 9,000 food establishments with vegan options. Brazil leads in Latin America with 34.2% of the vegan-friendly establishments, followed by Mexico with 25.9%, Argentina with 10.6%, Colombia with 10.1%., and Chile with 8.4%. Most of these establishments are restaurants, followed by health shops, vegan shops, pastry shops and ice cream parlours.
Mauricio Serrano, director of Veganuary Latin America, told La Cooperativa, “The countries with the highest vegan offer in Latam coincide with the ranking of countries with the most Veganuary participants, where Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Brazil are positioned in the top 10… We can show how the greater demand of people who have left animal products behind are being heard so restaurants and different businesses can deliver an increasing offer”.
HappyCow is an app and a vegan community and food discovery platform listing more than 186,000 businesses in over 180 countries, and Veganuary is a top international vegan campaigning organisation based in the UK.
Regarding the cities with the greatest vegan offer in Latin America, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Mexico City lead the list, followed by Santiago, Bogotá and Rio de Janeiro. As far as the entire world is concerned, London remains the top city, followed by Berlin, New York City, Melbourne, Singapore, Los Angeles, Bangkok, Amsterdam, Warsaw, and Barcelona. The criteria used to evaluate this ranking includes the number of fully vegan restaurants within a 10 km radius of each city centre, the number of fully vegan businesses in that radius, the total number of restaurants (vegan, vegetarian, and veg-friendly) listed in the radius, the density of vegan businesses per capita, and the growth of vegan businesses since the previous report. The Latin American cities of Bogota, Mexico City, and Sao Paulo showed a great increase from the last report in 2019 so perhaps one day they could make it to the top ten list.
