1 in 4 Korean Households has Pets; Spends 154,000 Won on Pets per Month

Twenty-five percent of households in Korea have pets such as dogs and cats and spend more than 150,000 won per month on their care.

The number of pet-keeping households in Korea came in at 5.52 million as of the end of 2022, with one in four households having a pet, said the 2023 Korean Pet Report released by KB Financial Group’s Management Research Institute on June 4.

The number of pet-keeping households ascended by 160,000 from 5.36 million at the end of 2020. This represented a 2.8 percent increase in two years.

Dogs accounted for 71.4 percent of the households, while cats 27.1 percent.

On average, households spent 154,000 won (US$117.89) on pet care a month with the largest share going to food (31.7 percent), followed by snacks (19.1 percent), daily necessities such as potty pads (12.7 percent), and grooming (10.5 percent).

As for medical expenses for pets, the respondents said that they spent an average of 787,000 won (US$602.47) over two years, of which 51.9 percent were for routine health checkups, followed by 39.6 percent for skin diseases and 26.4 percent for treatments after accidents and injuries.

Among the pet owners, 67.3 percent were satisfied with having pets and 62.8 percent said they will continue to keep their pets. However, fewer than half (41.9 percent) said that they will recommend having pets to others, down 4.6 percentage points from two years ago.