Cat and dog owning households in the Netherlands 2010-2022

The Dutch are pet-loving people. In 2022, 21 percent of Dutch households owned a pet dog. Cats were even more popular. That year, out of every four households in the Netherlands, one had a pet cat. In neighboring country Belgium too, cats and dogs were popular. Here, the share of households owning either animal was roughly the same.

 Pet dog and pet cat population 

Between 2010 and 2022, the pet dog population in the Netherlands fluctuated from year-to-year. At its peak in 2014, there were over 2.5 million pet dogs in the country. By 2022, the Dutch pet dog population reached about 1.5 million. Although this is an impressive amount, the number of dogs in the Netherlands was somewhat lower than the number of cats. In 2022, there were 1.9 million pet cats living in the Netherlands.

Popularity of pets

A 2016 survey found that over half of the Dutch households had at least one pet. Cats and dogs were the most popular pets, but a smaller share of households also had fish. According to this survey, roughly one in ten households kept pet fish.