With over 470 million dogs kept as pets worldwide, dogs came out on top as the leading type of pet in 2018. Within the same year, there were roughly 370 million pet cats in the world.

Pets in the European Union

While dogs were globally speaking the most common type of pet, cats were more common in the European Union in 2018. Roughly 75 million people within this region had a pet cat in 2018, compared to the 65 million pet dogs. That year, Germany had about nine and a half million pet dogs, making it the country with the highest number within the European Union. Other top dog-loving countries included the United Kingdom, Poland, and France.

Other pets in Germany

Besides cats and dogs, Germans had many other household pets in 2018. About five and a half million small pets, such as hamsters and rabbits, were kept by Germans that year. Additionally, about two million households in Germany owned an aquarium and roughly one and a half million households owned a garden pond.

How many dogs are there in the US? According to a pet owners survey, there were approximately 89.7 million dogs owned in the United States in 2017. This is an increase of over 20 million since the beginning of the survey period in 2000, when around 68 million dogs were owned in the United States.

Why has this figure increased?

The resident population of the United States has also increased significantly within this time period. It is, therefore, no surprise that the number of dogs owned in U.S. households has also increased, especially when considering that the household penetration rate for dog-ownership reached almost 50 percent in recent years.

The dog food market in the United States

The large number of dogs owned by Americans creates a lucrative market for pet food brands and retailers. Pedigree, the leading dry dog food name brand in the U.S., had sales amounting to around 550 million U.S. dollars in 2017. Pedigree also led the pack in the wet dog food category , with sales of around 240 million U.S. dollars in the same year.

This statistic shows the average share of pet ownership worldwide as of 2023, by pet type. Across all surveyed countries, dogs and cats are the most popular pet type around the world.

The population of dogs kept as pets in the United Kingdom (UK) was estimated at 13.5 million in 2024, which is an increase of around 1.5 million from the previous year. Dog ownership in the UK As the population of dogs grew in the United Kingdom over the last decade, so did the share of dog-owning households in the UK. Between 2019/20 and 2021/22, the share of UK households owning a pet dog jumped from 23 percent to around 34 percent. This sudden increase could be attributed to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting government-imposed quarantines that forced people to stay at home. UK households own pet dogs from various breeds. However, Labrador Retrievers were by far the most popular dog breed in the UK, with around 39,905 registrations in 2020. French Bulldogs were also equally popular with 39,266 registrations in that year. How much does it cost to own a dog in the UK? Consumer spending on pets and related products went up significantly in the United Kingdom between 2005 and 2020, with expenditure levels peaking at 7.88 billion British pounds in 2020. The annual cost of keeping a pet dog in the UK amounted to an estimated 1,875 GBP as of 2022. Broken down by expense type, boarding for two weeks cost approximately 450 GBP per year and was the costliest part of owning a pet dog, followed by pet insurance estimated at around 330 GBP annually.

In 2023, the dog population in Europe was measured at approximately 106.36 million, an increase from around 104.34 million in the previous year. Overall, the number of pet-owning households in Europe was estimated to be around 166 million in 2023. Pets in the European Union With a pet population reaching almost 78 million in 2022, cats were the most populous animal type in the European Union, followed by dogs and ornamental birds. Other popular pets that year included small mammals, ornamental fish, and pet reptiles. There were approximately 7.3 million pet reptiles in the European Union in 2022. Germany was home to the highest population of pet dogs in the European Union in 2022, at around 10.6 million. Pet retailers in Europe The German pet food company Fressnapf was Europe’s top pet care retailer, with more than 2.1 billion euros in annual turnover in 2019. Fressnapf’s competitors in Europe are prominent pet care retailers such as the United Kingdom’s Pets at Home, the Belgian company Aveve, and the German Futterhaus, amongst others. Pets at Home is the largest pet retailer in the United Kingdom, recording annual revenues exceeding 1.32 billion British pounds in 2022.

This statistic shows the share of pet owners in the population of selected countries all over the world as of 2016. During the survey, 66 percent of respondents in Argentina stated they own a dog, while 32 percent said they own a cat.

Dogs are loved pets around the world. Over the period from 2012 to 2022, the number of dogs owned by Finnish households increased by 131 thousand. The pet dog population was estimated to be approximately 781 thousand in Finland in 2022.

Pets in Finland

Not only dogs but also cats are popular pets in Finland. As of 2022, there were over 980 thousand pet cats in Finland. Over the past years, the share of households owing at least one cat or dog in Finland remained at the same level. On the other hand, the number of small mammal pets, such as rabbits, guinea pigs, or hamsters, owned by Finnish households showed no increase.

Pets in the European Union

Pets are increasing in popularity in the European Union. During the last decade, the number of pet-owning households in the EU has increased at a steady pace. While dogs reached the second rank, cats are the most popular pets in the European Union. As of 2022, it was estimated that there were approximately 77.9 million pet cats and 66.9 million pet dogs in the EU.

An estimated 65.1 million households in the United States owned at least one dog according to a 2023/24 pet owners survey, making them the most widely owned type of pet across the U.S. at this time. Cats and freshwater fish ranked in second and third places, with around 46.5 million and 11.1 million households owning such pets, respectively.

Freshwater vs. salt water fish

Freshwater fish spend most or all their lives in fresh water. Fresh water’s main difference to salt water is the level of salinity. Freshwater fish have a range of physiological adaptations to enable them to live in such conditions. As the statistic makes clear, Americans keep a large number of freshwater aquatic species at home as pets.

American pet owners

In 2023, around 66 percent of all households in the United States owned a pet. This is a decrease from 2020, but still around a 10 percent increase from 1988. It is no surprise that as more and more households own pets, pet industry expenditure has also witnessed steady growth. Expenditure reached over 136 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, almost a sixfold increase from 1998. The majority of pet product sales are still made in brick-and-mortar stores , despite the rise and evolution of e-commerce in the United States.

The top dog breed in the UK in 2022, as measured by number of registrations, was the Labrador Retriever breed. Some 44,311 retrievers were newly registered in the UK in 2022. French Bulldogs and Cocker Spaniels rounded out the top three dog breeds in the UK that year.

Surge in UK dog registrations

In 2022, many dog breeds saw a decrease in registrations after large growth in 2021. Over 17 thousand fewer Labrador Retrievers were registered in 2022 than in 2021. Registrations of French Bulldogs and Cocker Spaniels also saw significant decreases in the UK that year.

UK pet food market

Europe and North America produce the most pet food worldwide. In 2022, Europe produced about 11.8 million metric tons of pet food. Though less pet food is produced in North America overall, the United States has the highest pet food revenue worldwide by far. The UK has the second highest revenue, reaching over 6.8 billion U.S. dollars that year.

The overall population of pet dogs in India was over 33 million in 2023. The population is likely to reach more than 51 million by 2028. The growth in the number of pet dogs has led to an increase in pet food sales across the country.

Are cats winning the battle against dogs? If dogs are man’s best friend, it seems that the small feline has a big space in French people’s households. In 2022, a third of households owned a cat in France, whereas 20 percent of them declared owning a pet dog.

This is a cat’s world  

Similarly, there were more cat owners in Belgium, in Denmark and Germany, than dog owners. Although this may be true, in Spain and the United Kingdom, people were more frequently dog owners than cat owners. Nonetheless, in the U.K the number of pet cats was on the rise, there were 12 million cats registered in 2021-2022.

Cat-ching!  

In the United Kingdom, the lifetime cost of keeping a cat was 12,000 British pounds, which was slightly higher than the cost of keeping a dog. On the opposite side, in the United States, annual expenses for cats were lower than expenses for dogs. Pet owners are keen to celebrate with their animals as a significant share makes the effort to purchase gifts for them on special occasions.

By 2022, it was estimated that there would be 187 million pets in Latin America. This represents a growth of 17 percent in the pet population compared to the number in 2017, which stood at 160 million pets throughout the region. In 2019, Brazil was Latin America's biggest pet market and among the largest in the world. In that year, the country's pet care industry accounted for 4.7 percent of the global pet market.

This statistic shows the number of Boxer dogs registered in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2011 to 2023. During the given time period, the number of registered Boxer dogs in the UK peaked in 2011, when almost 5.3 thousand dogs were registered. By 2023, the number of registered Boxers dropped to 2,650 dogs.

In 2023, Brazil counted over 160 million pets, of which more than 62 million were dogs. The second most popular pet among Brazilians were birds, with 42.8 million animals of this kind living in Brazilian households.

The deadliest animals in the world based on the number of human deaths per year is not a creature that humans usually find scary, such as a lion or snake. Mosquitos are by far the deadliest creature in the world when it comes to annual human deaths, causing around one million deaths per year, compared to 100,000 deaths from snakes and 250 from lions. Perhaps surpringly, dogs are the third deadliest animal to humans. Dogs are responsible for around 30,000 human deaths per year, with the vast majority of these deaths resulting from rabies that is transmitted from the dog.

Malaria

Mosquitos are the deadliest creature in the world because they transmit a number of deadly diseases, the worst of which is malaria. Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite that results in fever, chills, headache, vomiting and, if left untreated, death. Malaria disproportionately affects poorer regions of the world such as Africa and South-East Asia. In 2020, there were around 627,000 deaths from malaria worldwide.

Mosquito-borne diseases in the U.S.

The most common mosquito-borne diseases reported in the United States include West Nile virus, malaria, and dengue viruses. Many of these cases, however, are from travelers who contracted the disease in another country - this is especially true for malaria, Zika, and dengue. In 2018, the states of California, New York, and Texas reported the highest number of mosquito-borne disease cases in the United States.

Consumers in the United States spent the most on pet care worldwide in 2019 - Americans spent 162 U.S. dollars on a per capita basis on such products in that year. Britain ranked in distant second place, where consumers on average spent 93 U.S. dollars per capita.

Pet cat and dog ownership in Russia showed similar dynamics during the period under consideration. Over one-third of Russian households owned at least one cat on average, while the share of families having a pet dog was measured at 30 percent in 2022, up 10 percentage points from 2010.

 Russia, the country of cats

The number of domestic cats across Russia outnumbered the population of pet dogs in the country by roughly six million. However, while half the domestic dogs were pedigree, the majority of cats owned by Russian households were outbred, making them the most widespread type of domestic animals in the country. This fact can be explained by the social affinity to pick up small domestic friends in the streets.

Cats and dogs worldwide

From a global perspective, the count of pet dogs was greater than that of cats. Germany was the leading country in the European Union (EU) by number of domestic cats and dogs over that year. Nonetheless, the German pet cat population was lower than that in Russia.

The United States is the world leader in the pet market, with a market share of just over 40 percent as of March 2020. Brazil ranked in distant second place, with a share of around five percent. Germany and the United Kingdom both accounted for 4.9 percent of the market.

According to a 2022 survey, 35 percent of cat and dog owners around the world had set up social media accounts for their pets. Furthermore, 34 percent of owners said they enjoyed positive reactions shared about their furry friends on online platforms.

This statistic presents the number of Pug dogs registered in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2011 to 2023. The graph shows that Pugs gained popularity in the UK until 2017, with annual registration numbers rising from approximately 6,221 dogs in 2011 to almost 10,800 dogs in 2017. However, by 2023, this number dropped significantly to 1,994.