The rankings of pet populations in Europe don’t reflect the prevalence of pet ownership. More populous nations inherently will tend to have more pets, but they may not have the most pets per capita. However, ordering European nations by per capita pet ownership causes different patterns to emerge. Per capita dog ownership rates may reflect popularity of pet ownership and influence a brands’ potential to enter or expand in a nation.
Last year, Russia had the highest pet dog and cat populations in Europe, according to the European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF) report "Facts & Figures 2022." Yet, the vast nation doesn’t rank in the top 10 of dog ownership per capita. Instead, Portugal rose to the top, followed by several Eastern European countries.
To determine per capita dog ownership, I divided FEDIAF pet ownership data by the human population in 2022, according to Worldometer statistics using United Nations data.
Per capita dog ownership in Europe 2022
- PORTUGAL: 0.25 dogs per person
- HUNGARY 0.21 dogs per person
- ROMANIA 0.21 dogs per person
- CZECH REPUBLIC 0.21 dogs per person
- LITHUANIA: 0.20 dogs per person
- SPAIN: 0.20 dogs per person
- POLAND: 0.20 dogs per person
- UNITED KINGDOM: 0.19 dogs per person
- ESTONIA: 0.18 dogs per person
- BELGIUM: 0.17 dogs per person
European pet food market and population 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 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. Cats were the most popular pets with a population of 127 million in 26% of households. Dogs followed cats closely as the second most popular pet. Dogs lived in approximately 25% of European households with a population of 104 million.
- 127 million cats
- 104 million dogs
- 53 million birds
- 29 million small mammals
- 22 million aquaria
- 11 million reptiles
Turkey and Russia were both 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.
About European Pet Food Federation
The European Pet Food Federation represents the European pet food industry. It is an umbrella organization of national pet food industry associations. FEDIAF’s mission is to be the voice of the European pet food industry collaborating with authorities, regulators and academics for achieving favorable conditions for the supply of safe, nutritious and palatable products to pets and their owners. Based in Brussels, FEDIAF states that it is committed to promoting responsible pet ownership, to the wellbeing of pet animals, to their important social role and to sustainable development.
The annual Facts & Figures from FEDIAF are compiled using figures from FEDIAF and its member associations and estimations based upon where indicated.
