Maltese Tops Preferred Dog Breeds... Korean Shorthair Cats Overwhelmingly Popular
Many Households Satisfied but Reluctant to Recommend
As the number of households raising pets in South Korea surpassed 5.5 million, the most preferred dog breed in Korea was found to be the Maltese. In the case of pet cats, the Korean Shorthair, commonly referred to as 'stray cats,' was overwhelmingly favored.
According to the '2023 Korea Pet Report' published by KB Financial Group on the 4th, approximately 5.52 million households in South Korea were raising pets as of the end of 2022. This represents about a 2.8% increase compared to 5.36 million households at the end of 2020.
However, the proportion of pet-owning households among all households decreased by 0.6 percentage points (p), from 26.3% to 25.7% over two years.
This estimate is based on data from the 2019 and 2021 Population and Housing Census by Statistics Korea, as well as KB Financial's own survey (conducted at the end of 2022 with 2,000 men and women aged 20 to 69).
Additionally, the most preferred dog breed among Korean pet dog households was the Maltese, accounting for 25.9% of the total. The Maltese was also the top preferred breed in surveys conducted in 2018 and 2021.
Poodles (21.4%), mixed breeds (20.3%), Pomeranians (10.3%), and Jindo dogs (5.6%) followed. The Shih Tzu, which ranked third in the 2018 survey, dropped to sixth place this year. Also, the Chihuahua and Golden Retriever, which had consistently been popular breeds since 2018, did not make it into the top seven in this year's survey. Instead, the Bichon Frise entered the rankings for the first time at seventh place with 4.5%.
Notably, the preference for mixed breeds has significantly increased this year. It rose from sixth place in 2018 to fourth in 2021, and climbed to third place this year. The ownership rate also showed an upward trend, increasing from 8.4% in 2018 to 10.7% in 2021, and 20.3% in 2023.
For pet cats, the Korean Shorthair was the most common at 62.1%, up 16.9 percentage points from 45.2% in 2021. Among them, more than half (57.7%) were adopted as abandoned cats. Persian cats (15%) and Russian Blues (11.9%) followed the Korean Shorthair.
Meanwhile, when asked about the initial route to acquiring a pet, the most common response was 'through friends or acquaintances,' at 33.6%. The proportion of pet-owning households that took 'more than one month to decide on adoption' was 34.5%. The main reason for taking over a month was 'concern about being responsible and able to raise the pet well,' which accounted for 61.0% of responses.
Among pet-owning households, 67.3% reported being 'satisfied' with raising pets, but the percentage who said they would recommend pet ownership to others decreased from 46.5% in 2021 to 41.9% in 2023. This decline is attributed to the heavy sense of responsibility felt while raising pets.
Furthermore, only 28.4% of all pet-owning households felt they were sufficiently prepared for pet adoption. Nearly half (49.2%) responded that there is a need to introduce a pet owner qualification exam domestically, similar to those conducted in countries like Germany, to ensure thorough preparation.
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