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pet ownership trends

Trends in Children vs. Pets: A Comparative Demographic Report

Gary Peters

• 12 min read
Trends in Children vs. Pets: A Comparative Demographic Report
Photo by Jennifer Kalenberg / Unsplash

Introduction – Changing Household Dynamics: Families around the world are experiencing a demographic shift: fewer children are being born as birthrates decline, while pet ownership is on the rise. This report compares the number of children versus the number of pets in the United States, Europe, and globally, showing how these trends have evolved over time. Key metrics – such as average number of kids per household, number of pets per household, total child population, and total pet population – are presented for each region. Significant milestones (for example, record-low birthrates and record-high pet ownership) are highlighted to illustrate the contrast between human and pet demographics. The data are drawn from reputable sources including national censuses, demographic surveys, and veterinary/pet industry reports.

Comparison of child vs. pet populations in the U.S., Europe, and globally (latest available data). Developed regions like the U.S. and Europe now have far more pets than children, whereas globally children still outnumber pets. Bars represent population counts in millions of individuals (under age 18 for children, all pet animals for pets).

United States: Fewer Kids, More Pets

The United States has seen a steady decline in children per household alongside a steady rise in pet ownership over the past few decades. In 1950, about 52% of U.S. families had at least one child under 18; by 2023 that share dropped to 39% nar.realtor. Even in just the last two decades, the percentage of U.S. households with children fell from ~48% around 2000 to about 40% by 2023 parealtors.org. This reflects the long-term decline in U.S. birthrates – the average woman in the 1960s had 3.6 children, whereas today the average is only about 1.7 toplinestatistics.com (well below the replacement rate of 2.1). The U.S. child population has consequently stagnated or shrunk: as of 2024 there were roughly 73.1 million Americans under age 18 census.gov, slightly down from a decade earlier. For context, children now make up only about 22% of the U.S. population (compared to over 30% in 1950). Families are smaller, and a record-high share of households are child-free (often due to delayed childbearing and aging population).

In stark contrast, pets have become more numerous and more common in U.S. homes. In the late 1980s, about 56% of American households owned a pet; by 2019 this had grown to 67%, and after the pandemic pet boom, roughly 70% of U.S. households have a pet as of 2022 parealtors.org. According to the American Pet Products Association, pet ownership rose from 56% of households in 1988 to 66% in 2023 nar.realtor. Many Americans now treat pets as family members, and even prioritize pets in life decisions (a 2024 survey found 19% of home buyers considered their pet’s needs when choosing a neighborhood) parealtors.org. The average number of pets per household has also increased – in the 1960s U.S. households had about 0.5 pets on average, whereas today many households have multiple pets (averaging ~1.8 pets among pet-owning homes) toplinestatistics.com.

Total pet populations in the U.S. now exceed the child population by a wide margin. As of 2024, there were an estimated 89.7 million pet dogs and 73.8 million pet cats living in U.S. households avma.org. Combined (163.5 million), that is more than double the number of children under 18 in the country. If one includes other pets (birds, fish, small mammals, etc.), the gap is even larger. For example, over 65 million households have at least one dog and ~62 million have at least one cat parealtors.org, and many own other pets like fish – making pets nearly ubiquitous. By one estimate, 70% of U.S. households have a pet while only 40% have a child parealtors.org, a complete reversal of mid-20th-century family patterns. Figure 1 (above) illustrates this crossover: the orange bar (pets) for the U.S. is now far higher than the blue bar (children)【33†】. In short, the U.S. has reached a milestone where pets outnumber and outpace children – a dramatic demographic shift driven by lower birthrates and the growing role of companion animals in American life.

Europe: Low Birthrates and High Pet Ownership

Europe’s trends mirror those of the U.S. in direction, but are even more pronounced in magnitude. Across Europe, human birthrates have fallen to some of the lowest levels in the world, while pet ownership has become extremely common. As of 2022, the European Union (EU) had roughly 81 million children under 18 – about 18% of the EU’s population unicef.org. This is a decline from previous generations; many European countries now have historically low fertility (around 1.3–1.7 children per woman) and aging populations. For example, Italy and Spain have only ~12–13% of their population under age 15 worldpopulationreview.comworldpopulationreview.com, reflecting very few children. Consequently, only about one-quarter of European households include any children. In 2024, just 23.6% of households in the EU had at least one child (approximately 47 million out of 202 million households) eunews.it – meaning three in four European households are child-free. This is a significant demographic change from past decades and is linked to factors like delayed marriage, smaller family norms, and economic constraints leading to declining birthrates.

Meanwhile, pets have become integral to European family life, often filling the companionship role that larger families or children might have in the past. Nearly half of European households now own a pet. In 2010, roughly 38% of European households had pets qrillpet.com; by the early 2020s, surveys indicated the share had grown to 46% or more worldanimalfoundation.org. One industry report noted that 166 million households in Europe had at least one pet in 2022 flamingo.be – out of roughly 330 million total households in broader Europe – which suggests pet ownership in over 50% of households. Europeans keep a variety of companion animals, but cats and dogs are the most popular. Europe’s pet population is enormous: as of 2022 there were about 129 million cats and 106 million dogs across European countries flamingo.be. In addition, Europeans own tens of millions of birds, small mammals, reptiles, and fish. In total, Europe is home to an estimated 352 million pet animals of all species flamingo.be. This figure dwarfs the number of children in Europe (which is roughly 80–90 million, depending on age cutoff). In other words, pets outnumber children by more than 4 to 1 in Europe, as illustrated by the Europe bars in Figure 1【33†】.

The contrast between pets and kids in Europe is highlighted by several milestones. For one, Europe’s overall birthrate (around 1.5) has been below replacement for decades, leading to slow or negative natural population growth worldpopulationreview.com. At the same time, pet ownership has proven resilient and even grew during challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic (when many Europeans adopted pets for comfort during lockdowns). A striking example is Spain, which has seen pets effectively replace children in many households. Spain is now considered a “pet-first” society: by 2024, pets outnumbered children by roughly 2-to-1 in Spain surinenglish.com. In one Spanish province (Málaga), there were 499,000 registered dogs and cats vs. 290,000 children under 17 – about 1.7 pets per child surinenglish.comsurinenglish.com. Similar trends are observed in Italy, Germany, and other nations with low birthrates. Even in the United Kingdom, which has a slightly higher birthrate than Southern Europe, pet numbers have surged. London recently reported that the number of dogs in the city (≈1.2 million) now exceeds the number of children under five (≈1.1 million) petsmag.co.uk. This “puppy boom” in a major European city underscores how young couples are increasingly opting for “fur babies” over human babies – often citing high living costs and lifestyle preferences as reasons petsmag.co.ukpetsmag.co.uk.

Key figures for Europe (current vs. historical): On average, European families today have far fewer children than decades ago (e.g. fertility in the EU fell from ~2.6 in the 1960s to ~1.5 in recent years), and a much smaller share of households are raising kids. In contrast, pet ownership has become mainstream. The average number of pets per European household is difficult to pinpoint (because many pet-free apartments in cities bring down the average), but among pet-owning homes it’s common to have multiple pets. For instance, in Belgium pet owners average 3 pets per household flamingo.be. European pet industry data show robust growth: the region now has over 230 million cats and dogs combined, plus many other pets worldanimalfoundation.org. Europeans spend nearly €22 billion on pet food annually and billions more on pet services europeanpetfood.orgeuropeanpetfood.org, reflecting how central pets have become in European life. In summary, Europe is experiencing a historic demographic shift: fewer children than ever, and more pets than ever, with pets often viewed as family members filling emotional and social roles once largely occupied by children.

Worldwide, the balance between children and pets is also shifting, though the picture is more mixed due to differences between high-income and low-income regions. Global human population growth is slowing, primarily because of declining birthrates virtually everywhere. In the early 1950s, the global fertility rate was around 4.9 children per woman; by 2023 it had fallen to about 2.3 worldpopulationreview.com. This means that while the world’s total population is still growing (due to longer lifespans), the number of children is leveling off. According to United Nations data, the total number of children (ages 0–14) in the world is roughly 2.0 billion in 2023 worldpopulationreview.com. This figure is projected to peak around 2050 at ~2.06 billion and then gradually decline toward ~1.9 billion by the end of the century worldpopulationreview.com. If older minors (15–17) are included, the current under-18 population globally is on the order of 2.3–2.4 billion. These trends mean that children form a shrinking share of humanity – currently about 25–30% of the global population is under 18, down from ~40% in 1950 worldpopulationreview.com – reflecting a broad “greying” of societies worldwide.

Counterbalancing this is the rapid growth in pet ownership worldwide, which has accelerated as countries urbanize and incomes rise. It is estimated that more than half of the global population has a pet at home qrillpet.com. By the mid-2020s, there are likely over one billion pet animals worldwide qrillpet.com. (For comparison, there are about 8 billion humans in total – so roughly one pet for every 8 people on average.) This includes hundreds of millions of dogs and cats, plus birds, fish, and other companion animals. A 2021 report by the global animal health industry noted that families in just four regions – the U.S., EU, China, and Brazil – accounted for over half a billion pet dogs and cats among them worldanimalfoundation.org. Global pet dog populations are roughly estimated at 800–900 million, though not all are “pets” in the sense of owned dogs (some are strays) simplyinsurance.com. The global owned dog count is often quoted around 470 million, and the owned cat population around 370 million worldanimalfoundation.org. These numbers have grown substantially in recent decades as pet-keeping culture spreads in developing countries. For example, China had virtually no pet industry 30 years ago, but today China has tens of millions of urban pet dogs and cats – fueled by younger generations delaying marriage and finding companionship in pets. One survey found that 33.7% of single adults in China owned a pet (often treating the pet as a family substitute) worldanimalfoundation.orgworldanimalfoundation.org. Similar trends are evident in other emerging economies as they modernize.

While globally children still outnumber pets (approximately 2.3 billion vs. 1.0 billion), the gap is narrowing. The blue global bar (children) in Figure 1 is higher than the orange bar (pets), but in many individual countries the reverse is true【33†】. Developed countries universally have more pets than kids now, and some have reached striking ratios. One well-known milestone occurred in Japan: By the late 2000s, Japan’s pet dog and cat population surpassed the number of children. As of a few years ago, Japan was reported to have about 13 million pet dogs/cats combined versus only ~10 million children under 15 toplinestatistics.com. This reflects Japan’s extremely low birthrate (around 1.3) and its status as one of the world’s most aged societies. Many other East Asian and European countries are following this path. In Spain, as noted, pets already outnumber kids roughly 2:1 surinenglish.com, and South Korea and Germany are not far behind with rapidly shrinking youth populations and growing pet ownership. On the other hand, in developing regions of Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East, children still vastly outnumber pets because birthrates remain relatively high and pet ownership is less common culturally or economically. For instance, Niger has nearly half its population under age 15 worldpopulationreview.com, so children dominate there, and families often keep livestock rather than pets.

In summary, the global landscape is one of converging trends: human demographics are shifting toward fewer children, while pet populations are rising as more people embrace animals as part of the family. Total global child numbers are expected to peak by mid-century, whereas there is no sign yet of a peak in the global pet population (which continues to climb as pet ownership increases in populous countries like China, India, and Brazil). This has profound social implications. Households worldwide are increasingly likely to be “child-free but pet-full” – especially in urban centers where having pets is more feasible than raising multiple children. The data from the U.S. and Europe already show this new reality, and globally the same pattern is emerging albeit at different paces in different regions.

Key Takeaways and Demographic Milestones

  • Average Household Size and Composition: Both the U.S. and Europe have reached historic lows in the average number of children per household. In the U.S., families with children have on average ~1.9 kids (slightly down from ~2.3 in the 1970s), and in the EU about half of families with children have only one child linkedin.com. Meanwhile, pet-owning households often have multiple pets (e.g. U.S. pet owners average ~1.5 dogs or ~1.8 cats each avma.org, and many have one of each). National surveys now show more households have pets than have kids (70% vs 40% in the U.S.) parealtors.org, a reversal from a few generations ago.
  • Total Population Contrasts: In absolute terms, pets already outnumber children in many developed countries. The U.S. has ~73 million children census.gov vs ~164 million pet dogs/cats avma.org; the EU (~81 million children) is home to over 230 million cats and dogs worldanimalfoundation.org. Japan’s pets-to-kids ratio and Spain’s example (twice as many pets as children) underscore this milestone toplinestatistics.comsurinenglish.com. Globally, children still outnumber pets (~2.3 billion vs ~1.0 billion), but the gap is closing as birthrates fall and pet ownership expands.
  • Declining Birthrates: Virtually all regions have experienced declining birthrates. The U.S. hit a record low fertility rate around 1.66 in 2022 macrotrends.net; the EU averages ~1.5; globally it’s about 2.3 (half of what it was in the 1950s) worldpopulationreview.com. This has led to aging populations and fewer children, especially in Europe and East Asia. Many countries are at or near their lowest proportions of children in history (e.g., only ~12% of Italy’s population is under 15) worldpopulationreview.com.
  • Rising Pet Ownership: In contrast, pet ownership has risen to record highs. In 1988 about 56% of U.S. households had a pet; today ~66–70% do nar.realtorparealtors.org. Europe saw pet households rise to ~50% by 2020s flamingo.be. Globally, more than half of households are estimated to include pets qrillpet.com. The pet cat and dog populations have surged (over 900 million dogs and 600 million cats worldwide, including strays) simplyinsurance.com, and industry data show booming pet food and care markets on every continent americanpetproducts.orgqrillpet.com.
  • Changing Family Priorities: These trends highlight a significant cultural shift: in many societies, having children is no longer a given, while owning pets is seen as rewarding and more affordable. Surveys find younger generations often view pets as family members or even as an alternative to childrentoplinestatistics.comtoplinestatistics.com. For example, 43% of U.S. millennials say they prefer pets over having children petfoodindustry.com. Economic considerations play a role – raising a child to age 18 in the U.S. costs over $230,000, whereas caring for a pet, though not cheap, is far less expensive toplinestatistics.com. This practical reality, combined with emotional benefits of pet companionship, has led to pets “filling the gap” in smaller households.

In conclusion, the demographic balance between children and pets has undergone a remarkable reversal in the developed world, and the ripple effects are being felt globally. Historically, children were abundant and pets were a luxury; today, many families are showering their love and resources on pets while having fewer (or no) kids. This report’s comparative data – spanning the U.S., Europe, and worldwide – underscores how declining birthrates and rising pet ownership intersect. The milestones highlighted (from U.S. pet households surpassing those with kids parealtors.org, to countries like Japan and Spain where pets outnumber children toplinestatistics.comsurinenglish.com) are emblematic of an ongoing societal shift. Policymakers and social planners are beginning to grapple with the implications: an aging human population with fewer youth, but also a surge in pet-related industries and the evolving role of animals in family life. Whether this trend continues or eventually stabilizes will depend on future economic, cultural, and policy changes – but as of the mid-2020s, the world is clearly experiencing “fewer cradles, more leashes” in its households, especially in affluent nations.

Sources: Latest demographic data from U.S. Census Bureau, Eurostat, and UNICEF; pet ownership statistics from the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), American Pet Products Association (APPA), European Pet Food Federation (FEDIAF), and global surveys. Specific figures and trends are documented in the citations below, which include official reports and research on family composition, fertility rates, and pet populations.

References:

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