December 19, 2025
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A study out of Taiwan finds that getting a dog raises the probability of having a baby by 33%, but getting a cat lowers it.
It turns out that getting a dog may not serve as a substitute for having a child but may actually be a dress rehearsal for welcoming a baby.
At least, that's according to a new working paper out of Taiwan that the New York Times reported on Thursday.
Pet owners were more likely to have children than people without pets, researchers found by analyzing Taiwanese government data about birth and pet ownership registrations. The data covered 23 million people and millions of dogs and cats.
These findings seemingly debunk a perception in Taiwan, which has one of the lowest birthrates in the world, that people are getting dogs instead of having children.
Rather, the analysis suggests people are trying out parenthood with pets and then moving on to having babies. Getting a dog increases the probability of later having a child by 33%, the researchers found.
This was not true for cats. While dogs are "positively associated with children, cats are negatively," the researchers wrote.
The implications of this research is limited by the fact that it was conducted in East Asia. But birthrates have been falling worldwide. The U.S. birth rate has been plummeting for more than 20 years, with women waiting longer to have children. In 2024, the U.S. fertility rate hit a record low with fewer than 1.6 children being born per woman, compared to 3.5 in the 1960s.
At the same time, the number of people who have pets in the United States has surged over the past 30 years. In 2024, 66% of U.S. households had pets, compared to 56% in 1988, Forbes reported in October. The most popular pets were dogs, followed by cats and freshwater fish.
Prior research has shown that pet ownership, in particular dog ownership, may lower blood pressure and cortisol, commonly known as the stress hormone. Interacting with animals also boosts mood and decreases loneliness, studies show.
On the flip side, parents in the United States are experiencing stress and anxiety at levels concerning enough to make it a public health issue, according to an advisory former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued in 2024.
"In addition to the traditional challenges of parenting — protecting children from harm, worrying about finances, managing teenagers who are searching for independence — there are new stressors that previous generations didn't have to consider," Murthy said in the advisory. "These include the complexity of managing social media, parents' concerns about the youth mental health crisis, and an epidemic of loneliness that disproportionately affects young people and parents, just to name a few."
