[Exclusive] 'Pet-owning Households' to be Reported Annually in National Statistics

Easier Identification of Companion Animal Household Scale
Momentum for Policy Implementation by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
"Expected to Help Business Decisions in Related Industries"

The "Public Awareness Survey on Animal Welfare," which serves as basic data for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' animal protection and welfare policy formulation, will be officially recognized as a national approved statistic this year. Through this survey, starting next year, the scale of households raising companion animals can be annually confirmed with high reliability as a national statistic. The Statistics Korea plans to exclude companion animal survey content from the population and housing census to prevent overlapping surveys.

Last November, dogs that accompanied their owners at the 'Mega Zoo' pet expo held at Ilsan KINTEX were looking around curiously at the exhibition hall.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Statistics Korea on the 16th, the work to obtain national approval for the public awareness survey on animal welfare will be completed in the third quarter. Since last year, the Ministry has been continuously coordinating and consulting with Statistics Korea for the approval and plans to formally apply for approval in July. This is to receive approval before the survey begins in September. The announcement is scheduled for the first half of next year.

Statistics Korea will review the sample design, scale, appropriateness of the survey purpose, and suitability of survey items when the Ministry submits the necessary materials for approval. A Statistics Korea official said, "Once the approval application is received, it must be reviewed within 30 days." He added, "Sample design is the most important," and explained, "We will examine the relevant details once the materials arrive."

The annual public awareness survey on animal welfare conducted by the Ministry includes questions on overall awareness of animal welfare and the status of companion animal ownership, targeting a proportionally sampled population by region, gender, and age at a specific time in the previous year. Since it includes the number of households raising companion animals, it has attracted considerable interest both inside and outside the ministry. However, since it was not a national approved statistic, there were limitations in external disclosure and utilization.

In line with this approval, Statistics Korea has decided to remove companion animal survey content from the population and housing census, which has been published every five years. While the 2020 population and housing census included statistics on households raising companion animals, the 2025 census to be released next year will exclude this. The main purpose is to reduce unnecessary survey costs caused by overlapping national statistics and to minimize confusion arising from discrepancies between figures from the Ministry and Statistics Korea.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs expects that obtaining national statistical approval will enhance the overall social trust and utilization of the companion animal public awareness survey. It is also expected to help closely monitor annual changes in the population raising companion animals, which are difficult to grasp through the population and housing census. As the Ministry announced this year its intention to systematically foster the companion animal-related industry, this will likely provide momentum for policy implementation.

Park Jeong-hoon, Director of Animal Welfare and Environment Policy at the Ministry, explained, "When companies decide on product production, investment varies depending on how many employees they can allocate," adding, "When related industries such as insurance companies and pet product manufacturers make business decisions, (statistics on households raising companion animals) can be used as basic data."

National approved statistics are statistics widely used for government policy formulation, evaluation, or other statistical compilations and are designated through approval by Statistics Korea. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs currently has a total of 24 national approved statistics, with recent approvals including the Livestock Environment Survey (2023) and Korean Food Industry Survey (2022). The Rural Returnee and Migration Statistics, approved in 2012, are jointly published with Statistics Korea and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.