Hongkongers among top spenders on pet care in Asia-Pacific at US$90,000, insurer OneDegree says

“Uninvolved or permissive [pet] parenting are no longer the norm for pet owners,” said Emily Chow, OneDegree’s deputy CEO. “They highly value daily care, diet and their pets’ well-being and health.”

Owning pets has become increasingly popular in Hong Kong over the past five years, with the number of cats, dogs, birds and other pets jumping by 50,000 to 1.19 million between 2018 and 2023, according to Statista. The industry has seen sales grow by 50 per cent over these five years to US$1.2 billion last year, according to Euromonitor data.

An ageing population, Covid-19-related social isolation and the high costs of raising children are among key factors that have driven the growth of the city’s pet industry, according to separate reports by the German Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and OneDegree.

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OneDegree’s Chow said that pet owners these days not only seek vet care when their pets fall ill, but they also schedule regular check-ups and enrol their pets in insurance plans. “They consider pets as family and provide their four-legged companions the same love and care,” she added.

However, despite the money and effort that Hongkongers are spending to take care of their pets, the city’s pet insurance industry is still in its nascency, with an estimated use rate of around 5 per cent.

The report shows that as many as 16 per cent of the 526 owners polled by OneDegree had never heard about pet insurance, and among those who had heard of pet insurance, less than half had enrolled their pets in an insurance plan.

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“We believe [that] by continuing to educate pet owners, providing transparent product information, as well as a seamless and efficient online insurance purchase-and-claim experience, the market will grow and boom in Hong Kong,” she said.

Meanwhile, mainland China’s pet industry is also seeing positive growth, even though the growth momentum has slowed over the past few years due in part to Covid-19 and its impact on households’ disposable incomes.

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Last year, mainland pet owners spent an average of 2,875 yuan (US$400) per year on their dogs and 1,870 yuan on their cats, marking declines of 0.2 per cent and 0.75 per cent, respectively, compared to 2022 levels. Nonetheless, the market recorded total sales of US$13.6 billion, close to a 100 per cent increase from 2018, according to reports published separately by industry bodies such as the Chinese Veterinary Medical Association and Euromonitor.

Pet food dominated owners’ spending with a 52.3 per cent share, while medical products and services, including medication, physical examinations and vaccines, accounts for 28.5 per cent, the association’s report shows.

The mainland pet economy is expected to reach 81.1 billion yuan in sales next year, according to estimates by iiMedia Research.