Pet Ownership Statistics

The incidence of pet ownership in Australia is one of the highest in the world, with an estimated 63% of Australia's 6.6 million households owning some kind of pet (53% owning a cat or dog).

There are over 38 million pets of various species throughout Australia. In 2007, 37.1 million pets were owned throughout Australia, including  3.7 million dogs and 2.2 million cats. In addition, there are approximately 20 million fish, 7.8 million birds and around 3 million other pets including horses, rabbits, guinea pigs and other small animals. 

Despite all the known benefits of owning a pet, data collected over the last ten years tells us that the dog and cat population has peaked and is now slowly declining. The cat population has continued to decline year on year since 2002. Cat numbers have declined from a high of 3.2 million in 1988 to the current levels of 2.2 million. Since a decline in 2005, the national average of dog ownership per 100 people has remained steady at 18 dogs per 100 people. National and state estimated pet populations in 2007 are detailed in Table 1 and the number of pets per 100 head of population by state is presented in Table 2. 

Contribution of the Pet Care Industry to the Australian Economy