Pet ownership is rising globally, with the number of pets closing in on nearly a billion pets worldwide. Driving this growth in pet ownership is a growing middle class with disposable income that can be spent on their animals.
Along with a trend towards greater pet ownership and pets living longer, the cost of veterinary expenses is also increasing. However, pet insurance ownership remains low in most markets.
In this post, we’ll unpack the latest data on pet ownership, the costs of having a pet cat or dog and the size of the pet insurance market.
Source: Health for Animals, American Pet Products Association, PetfoodIndustry.com
54% of Millennial cat owners are women; 45% are men.
Source: American Pet Products Association
In the USA, there are approximately 85M dogs.
Source: Health for Animals, PetfoodIndustry.com, Insuranceopedia, American Veterinary Medical Association
Outside of the United States and China, Brazil has the highest number of pets. Brazilian pet owners have roughly 54.2 million dogs and 23.9 million cats.
Here is the breakdown of countries by the number of pet cats and dogs:
Source: Health for Animals
Pet ownership is typically more prevalent in households with higher incomes:
Source: FinanceBuzz, Forbes
The majority of pet owners typically have more than one pet:
Source: PetfoodIndustry.com, Forbes
The average lifespan of pets has steadily increased over the past 20 years.
In the United States, the average life expectancy of dogs increased from 10.5 years to 11.8 years between 2002 and 2016, representing an 11.4% increase.
In Japan, dogs live 50% longer today than they did in the 1980s, while cats’ average life expectancy has grown by 230% during the same period.
Here is the breakdown of the leading causes of mortality for cats and dogs:
Source: National Library of Medicine, National Library of Medicine, Health for Animals
Source: Grand View Research
Source: Grand View Research, The Insurance Emporium, Forbes, Insuranceopedia
Here is the breakdown of the top 5 reasons among dog owners for not owning pet insurance:
Source: Forbes
With the average lifespan of pet dogs increasing over the last two decades, pet owners have to prepare for 8 – 15 years of pet-related expenses.
The estimated cost of owning a dog for the first year is $1,300 – $2,800. These costs include:
This excludes the cost of pet insurance, dog walking services, or daycare. Sending a dog to doggy day care twice a week can increase the annual cost of ownership by an average of $2,980 per year.
Even without these additional costs, the average lifetime cost of owning a dog across the United States is approximately $28,801.
In the United Kingdom, the average lifetime cost of owning a dog is approximately £ 21,000 ($ 26,000). For smaller dogs under 15 kgs, the estimated lifetime cost decreases to $24,454 (£18,414).
Source: Petwise, Insuranceopedia, Forbes, The Canine Times
The estimated cost of owning a dog for the first year is $960 – $2,500 for cats. These costs include:
The average lifetime cost of owning a cat across the United States is approximately $15,000 – $45,000.
Here is the breakdown of estimated annual costs for households with cats, dogs and both:
Source: Petwise, Insuranceopedia, Forbes
The most common reasons for veterinary visits for cats are Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) and skin conditions in dogs.
Here is the breakdown of the most common illnesses in cats and dogs:
The average cost of treating a UTI in cats is $1,100. However, the most expensive treatment for both cats and dogs is cancer, costing $3,800 and $4,100, respectively.
Here is the average cost of medical treatment for common cat and dog conditions:
Source: Forbes
The average pet insurance claim amount varies by region:
29.8% of pet insurance claims submitted are for medication, making it the most common claim type.
The average policy owner submits 3.07 pet insurance claims per policy.
Here is the breakdown of the five most common pet insurance claims:
Source: Truepanion, Insurance Times, Feather Insurance
The global market for pet liability insurance was valued at approximately $2.1 billion in 2023 and projected to reach $4.8 billion by 2032.
About 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year with costs related to dog bites and related injuries reaching $1.57 billion in 2024.
There were 22,658 dog bite claims submitted in 2024, a 18.9% increase from 19,062 in 2023. The average cost per claim also increased from $58,545 to $69,272 between 2023 and 2024.
Here is the breakdown of the estimated number and cost of dog bite claims from 2015 to 2024 in the United States:
In Germany, our data shows that the average claim amount for dog liability insurance was €611. The average refund amount was €498, with the largest refund amount being €2,314.
76% of claims submitted were for property damage.
Source: Feather Insurance, Insurance Information Institute, DataIntelo
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