Birth rates are falling, but don't blame pets: Taiwan study

Are pets crowding out babies?

- Amanda Taub

As concern grows over the global fertility crisis, people who chose to have dogs or cats, but not children, have become a popular scapegoat. In many cities, it is not uncommon to see pets dressed in outfits and pushed around in strollers.These pampered animals, the theory goes, have become replacements for human children, contributing to plummeting birth rates.

"Young people are not loving each other," Mr Kim Moon-Soo, then labour minister of South Korea, said in 2023. "They love their dogs and carry them around, but they don't get married and have children."

In 2022, Pope Francis called people who choose pets over children selfish.

It is not hard to find evidence of the cultural shift. A festival in Japan that honours children's birthdays has undergone a pet-friendly revamp, allowing dogs to receive blessings as well. At a Tokyo celebration in 2025, a shrine honoured 350 dogs and just 50 children.