In Portugal, you're more likely to encounter a dog than a child under 15. In 2024, the country’s pet dog population surpassed 3 million, according to data from the European Pet Food Industry Federation, compared with just under 1.4 million children aged 0 to 14.

While Portugal stands out as the clearest example of this trend, the Portuguese are not alone in their apparent preference for furry companions: at least 12 other EU member states also have more dogs than children under 15. Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, and Malta complete the top five.

In 2024, there were over 326 million pets of all kinds (dogs, cats, birds, turtles, fish…) in Europe. One third of European households have at least one dog, and another third shares their dwellings with at least one cat.

“Companion animals, especially cats and dogs, have a certain status in our society, both from a moral and an emotional point of view,” Svenja Springer, assistant professor at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, told us.

She highlights how easy it can now be to have a pet: in the Austrian capital, she said, there are over 200 dedicated zones where dogs can roam freely. “This is such a dog-friendly city. Our societies, in general, make it very attractive to be a pet owner.”

Most owners indeed see their animals as just another family member (a phenomenon known as “humanisation”), to the extent that some of them refer to their pets as “fur babies”. This trend has been fuelled by the pandemic, when remote work deepened owners’ bonds with their pets.

A 2024 paper co-authored by Springer showed that “a strong emotional bond with a pet makes it more likely that an owner will agree to costly or prolonged veterinary treatment, and some owners will even prioritise caring for their pets over their own healthcare needs.”

The pet industry is rubbing its hands. Europeans spent over €29 billion just on pet food in 2023, and almost €25 billion for accessories and services. The upward trend is expected to increase in the future. Indeed, there is scientific evidence that owning a pet increases owners’ readiness to spend: pets make us feel better, and we therefore tend to make more “hedonistic purchases”.

The new role that pets play in modern society has been translating into legislation in countries like France, Portugal, or Spain. Judges in Spain, for example, can grant pets a status similar to children in case of divorce, and agree to shared custody.

“Our dog, Beanie, is an integral part of our family,” Olga Alexandrova, a colleague at The European Correspondent, told us. Olga and her husband have not put it in writing, but the couple has already discussed what would happen with Beanie in the case of a breakup. “We would like to coparent, so that she would spend a bit of time with me and a bit of time with him,” Olga explained. “Neither of us would want the other person to be left without her, so it's a bit like with children, although I would not say that she replaces a child.”

Olga admits that they have adapted travelling plans for their dog, who is a “priority”. “Even if sometimes it can be a bit of an inconvenience, we always accommodate for her.”

Our furry friends are also leaving their pawmarks on workplace arrangements. In a recent ruling, a court in Barcelona rejected the arguments used by a company to fire an employee who left her post after receiving a phone call from her vet saying her dog should be euthanised. The judge considered it “immoral” that the pet’s “agony” should have been prolonged until the owner had completed her working hours.

Family structures have changed a lot in the last 50 or 60 years, Springer concluded. More people are living away from their family, and this mobility also helps explain the trend, which in her eyes is not just European, but global. “The [old] tight family construct now definitively needs a proxy, so to say.”