Dressed dogs sit in a buggy at a pet show in Suwon, south of Seoul, on Nov. 27, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Close to one third of South Korean households own pets. However, recent data shows that 3 in 4 pets are often left alone at home, for around six hours every day.
KB Financial Group’s research unit reported Sunday that as many as 6 million homes owned pets as of late 2020, which is a whopping 29.7 percent of the country’s total number of households.
The institute came up with the results based on statistics from Statistics Korea, a list of registered animals from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and a survey conducted by KB Financial Group last year of 1,000 men and women.
Among the pet-owning households, 80.7 percent had dogs, and 25.7 percent had cats.
Roughly three quarters of these pets were often left behind at home alone, for an average of 5 hours and 40 minutes each day.
These levels have dropped slightly from 2018 records due to the coronavirus and the work-at-home policies that ensued. In 2018, 84.3 percent of pets were left behind at home for an average of 6 hours and 3 minutes.
Each pet-rearing family spent around 140,000 won (US$124) every month on their pets, up by 20,000 won from the 2018 survey.
Their spending was allocated mostly to food (33.4 percent), followed by snacks (17.8 percent), expendables such as potty pads (11.1 percent), and beauty salons (10 percent).
The survey also revealed that 71 percent of all pet-owning households opened their wallets to send on medical treatment for their animal partners over the past two years, spending an average of 333,000 won.
Among pet-owning families, 61.5 percent were satisfied with their pets, with 61.6 percent saying they would continue to keep pets at home.
However, only 46.5 percent said they would recommend adopting a pet to others.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
