By 2030, China’s cities could have more pets than children under the age of four, according to a new analysis, which says the younger generation is the most likely to keep pets.
The ratio is almost two to one. Dogs and cats are particularly popular at the moment. Many orders for the pets have already been received for International Children’s Day on June 1, says Li Te, who sells custom cakes for four-legged friends. Your customers can send a photo of their protégé to the store with their mobile phone, where the animal is then modeled on the fish and meat cake.
China’s pet food sector is currently looking promising. In July, an analysis by US investment bank Goldman Sachs concluded that the pet food market in China could be worth the equivalent of 63 billion yuan (currently around 8 billion euros) by the end of the decade.
High workload as a motive?
It is estimated that there are about 116 million cats and dogs living in Chinese cities. One motive could be the high workload. “People need emotional comfort, so many choose to keep a pet, whether they have children or not,” says Hu Yusheng, who runs a Chinese medicine veterinary practice in Beijing. Acupuncture and heating of certain parts of the body are used for pets.
Pets now seem to be a kind of substitute for children in China. The Yuwa Institute for Population Research found this year that the cost of raising a child in China is among the highest in the world. On average, it costs 538,000 yuan (currently about $70,000) to raise a child to age 18. That’s 6.3 times China’s GDP per capita. It was only more expensive in South Korea, which ranks near the bottom in the world in terms of births per woman.
One child per woman
In China, the average woman currently has one child, even though the Communist Party ended its decades-old one-child policy in 2015. Fewer and fewer couples can afford to have a child, especially in more expensive cities. By 2030, there could be more pets than children under the age of four—almost a two-to-one ratio.
Source: Krone
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