European pet numbers are up and cats come in first

[Catherine]

Data collected by the European pet food industry indicates that pet numbers are up from 2022.
The pet population grew from 340 million to 352 million. Fifty percent of households had some kind of pet. Dogs made up 25% of households and cats made up 27% of households. Thirty million households had small mammals as pets. There were even 12 million households with terrariums.

https://www.petfoodindustry.com/regions/...-still-top

Cats are number one. Don't tell them or they will never let us forget it.
It is clear that at least half of all people in Europe want pets. It could be even more since not all people who want pets can actually have them.
Humans like living with pets. I would love to see a global survey. The numbers might be surprisingly high.