"The Number of Pets in China to Double That of Young Children by 2030"

As the younger generation in China increasingly tends to avoid starting families, an analysis has emerged predicting that by 2030, the number of pets in China will be twice that of young children.

According to CNBC on the 9th (local time), global investment bank Goldman Sachs, citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS), forecasts that by 2030, the number of pets in Chinese cities will exceed 70 million, while the number of children under the age of 4 will decrease to below 40 million. Considering that in 2017, the number of children under 4 was 90 million and the number of pets in cities was 40 million, the situation has reversed in just seven years.

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

Valerie Zhou, an equity analyst at Goldman Sachs, explained, "Along with China's relatively weak birth rate outlook, there is a strong momentum toward pet ownership among the younger generation, leading to increased preference for pets in households." Goldman Sachs projects an average annual decline rate of newborns in China at 4.2% by 2030, attributing this to a decrease in the female population aged 20 to 35 and a preference for childlessness among the younger generation.

As the younger generation in China chooses pets over children, the Chinese pet food market is also expected to grow to $12 billion by 2030. Additionally, it is predicted that the proportion of people choosing cats as pets will surpass that of dogs in China, as cats require less space than dogs.

The situation is similar in Japan. According to data from the Japan Pet Food Association and Euromonitor cited in the report, as of 2022, Japan had about 20 million pets, already about four times the number of children under 4 years old.

China's population decreased by 2.08 million to 1.41 billion last year compared to the previous year. During the same period, China's marriage rate increased by 12.4%, but still, half of the population aged 25 to 29 remains unmarried. According to the China Pet Industry White Paper, as of last year, half of pet owners in China were aged 23 to 33.