When it comes to economic indicators, few people consider pet ownership numbers. Even fewer think of pet-orientated technology, but it’s an emerging trend that warrants more attention because it says a lot about a country’s prosperity levels.
One of the telling divisions between developed and developing nations is birth rates – of humans, that is. Birth rates tend to be low in advanced industrialised countries and high in developing agrarian societies.
Most African countries, for example, have more than 30 children born per 1,000 people, while in North America and Europe it’s typically one half to one third of that. Many advanced economies have slipped below the so-called population replacement level of two children per family. The birth rate in the UAE, for one, has fallen to about 1.8 per family, from nearly seven in 1960.
Low birth rates are generally regarded as a sign of prosperity. Higher education levels result in more use of birth control methods. Families also tend to have fewer children when they don’t need as many hands to support the household. And, with slower population growth, a country’s improving economic fortunes can be divided among a smaller overall number of people.
As Karan Singh, the former minister of population in India, said in 1974: “Development is the best contraceptive”, and vice versa.
If that is true, then the world is headed in the right direction. The global birth rate has slowed significantly to about 18 children for every 1,000 people, from about 37 in 1950. The United Nations projects an even bigger decline by 2050, to 13. Over a long enough time line, declining population growth should help to spread more prosperity to a greater number of people.
Conversely, pet ownership is on the rise globally.
In the US, approximately 62 per cent of households own pets, up from 56 per cent in 1988, according to the American Pet Product Association. The trajectories are similar in Europe and India, where the number of dog-owning households has increased 58 per cent since 2007, according to Euromonitor International. In the Philippines there has been 38 per cent growth in the number of pet owners in the same time frame, Russia 28 per cent and Argentina 20 per cent.
Pet ownership is even growing slightly in the UAE, despite dogs being considered unclean by some. Cat-owning households rose to 8 per cent in 2013 from 7 per cent in 2013, while dog ownership – mainly by expatriates – increased to 6 per cent from 5 per cent.
Put the birth rates together with pet ownership and it looks like more people are preferring furry companions to the kind that stay up crying all night. Ask any animal lover why and they’ll offer an easy explanation: pets are cheaper to care for but they also provide love and companionship. And they usually don’t disappoint you when they get older in the way that only children can.
Fewer children and more prosperity mean couples are spending more on their pets, and are treating them more like family members. Americans spent an estimated US$60 billion on their pets last year, up about 25 per cent from 2010. Aside from better-quality food and veterinary care, the spending is also going to frivolities – about $350 million on pet Halloween costumes last year.
Emiratis aren’t necessarily engaging in such bizarre expenditures, but the overall trend is the same. Pet spending in the UAE in 2013 was up 7 per cent from 2008 to $94m.
It’s no wonder the salespeople pushing gadgets for pets are coming, with a number displaying their wares at last month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
There was CleverPet, a $299 “game console for dogs” that dispenses treats if Fido presses a series of buttons in the correct sequence. There was PetNet, whose $149 cloud-connected Smart Feeder allows owners to feed their pets remotely by tapping their smartphone. And there was PetCube, a $199 video camera with a built-in laser pointer, so that you can play with your pet when you are at work or commuting home.
There are many reasons why these devices might fail. But whether or not they succeed is besides the point.
Their very existence, driven by demographic and spending trends, is proof that more households are thinking beyond just basic human needs. When people are willing and able to spend on luxuries for their animal companions, it’s a good sign that the world is becoming more prosperous.
Peter Nowak is a veteran technology writer and the author of Humans 3.0: The Upgrading of the Species.
business@thenational.ae
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