Pets worldwide

According to the survey, over half of all respondents (56 per cent) owned at least one pet. The GfK study showed that the proportion of pet owners in Latin America was particularly high, with 80 per cent of Argentinians and Mexicans and 75 per cent of Brazilians owning at least one pet. On the other hand, the number of pet owners in Asian countries was significantly below the average: 63 per cent of respondents in Japan, 65 per cent in Hong Kong and as many as 69 per cent in South Korea did not own a pet. In Europe, the lowest numbers of pet owners in the countries surveyed were found in Sweden (49 per cent) and in Turkey (50 per cent) while the highest numbers were in Russia (74 per cent), Poland (70 per cent) and Italy (67 per cent).

Internationally the dog is by far the most popular pet. 33 per cent of the respondents owned at least one dog. Dogs are especially in popular in Argentina, where roughly 66 per cent of Internet users owned a dog. Mexico (64 per cent) and Brazil (58 per cent) are next in the rankings.
Cats also enjoy huge popularity worldwide. 23 per cent of all respondents were cat owners, with the proportion rising to as much as 57 per cent of those surveyed in Russia. The number of cat owners was very high in France too at 41 per cent, followed by the USA (39 per cent) and Canada (35 per cent). Once again, Asian countries had a very low proportion of cat owners, averaging 10 per cent, which pushed the overall average down. 
The undisputed number 3 on the list of pets is the fish. In an international comparison, the Chinese were especially fond of keeping fish as pets (17 per cent) and fish were popular in Turkey (16 per cent) and Belgium (15 per cent) too. In Germany, fish enthusiasts accounted for a comparatively low proportion of the respondents at 9 per cent. Only Sweden (6 per cent), Brazil (7 per cent) and Argentina (8 per cent) had a lower figure.

6 per cent of all respondents were owners of cage birds. The number of respondents keeping birds as pets was highest in Turkey at 20 per cent, followed by Spain and Brazil at 11 per cent in each case. Australia's bird-keeping contingent was 10 per cent. With the exception of Turkey and Spain, the proportion of bird owners in Europe was…