Cats were the most popular pets in Europe, continuing a multiyear trend. Europe's highly urbanized human populations may find cats may more convenient since cats often need less space and maintenance than dogs in general. In 2022, Europe was home to 127 million cats residing in 26% of households. However, dogs were only lower by one percentage point with 25% of European households including a pet dog. The European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF) “Facts and Figures 2022” report included that data along with a more detailed exploration of pet ownership patterns in Europe. The ten countries below had the largest populations of pet cats in Europe last year.
Turkey and Russia were included in FEDIAF figures although Turkey lies outside of geographical Europe, as does a significant portion of Russia. No distinction was made between pets living in the European or Asian portions of Russia.
RUSSIA - 23,150,000
GERMANY - 15,200,000
FRANCE - 14,900,000
UNITED KINGDOM - 12,000,000
ITALY - 10,228,000
UKRAINE - 7,630,000
POLAND - 7,125,000
SPAIN - 5,859,000
TURKEY - 4,660,000
ROMANIA - 4,371,000
European pet food sales reached EUR29.1 billion in 2022
In 2022, the European pet food market grew to EUR29.1 billion (US$31.1 billion) with an average 5.1% annual growth rate during the past three years, according to a European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF) report. To reach those sales figures, European pet owners purchased 10.5 million tonnes (11.6 million US tons) of pet food products, growing at 3.5% annually. Europe was home to 150 pet food companies last year. Those businesses operated an estimated 200 facilities which employed 118,000 people. For 2022, FEDIAF recorded 91 million European households owning at least one pet. That means approximately 46% of European households contain a pet. 127 million cats
- 104 million dogs
- 53 million birds
- 29 million small mammals
- 22 million aquaria
- 11 million reptiles
