Having a pet is good for health, but how much does it increase life satisfaction?

Many people all around the world have pets and it has been shown in many studies that having a pet can have a positive effect on various aspects of health. Almost everyone will agree with the idea that having a pet does increase the satisfaction with the life of its owner. Surprisingly, not much is known in psychological science about how much exactly having a pet increases life satisfaction. A new study, just published in the scientific journal Social Indicators Research (Gmeiner and Gschwandtner, 2025) now focused on closing this important gap in the psychological literature on pets.

A new study examines the impact of owning a pet on life satisfaction

The study was conducted by two UK researchers, Michael W. Gmeiner from the London School of Economics and Adelina Gschwandtner from the University of Kent. The scientists analyzed data from the so-called Innovation Panel, a survey from the UK that contained various information on pet ownership and life satisfaction. Overall, data from 2600 households were included in the study, making the sample quite large and the results statically robust.

To measure life satisfaction, the volunteers included in the study had to indicate between 1 (not satisfied at all) and 7 (completely satisfied) how satisfied they were with their lives overall. The scientists also measured the Big 5 personality traits (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeability, and Neuroticism) of the volunteers. Volunteers were also asked whether they owned a pet and if yes, which species of animal. Moreover, the mental and physical health of the volunteers were assessed, as well as much information about them, such as their age and gender.

What did the scientists find out?

Overall, the life satisfaction of the volunteers was fairly high (on average 5.24 on a scale between 1 and 7). The scientists then used sophisticated statistical models including many of the variables included in the survey to assess the effect of pet ownership on life satisfaction. They found a strong and significant effect of owning a pet on life satisfaction. The effect was quite large, on a scale from 1 to 7 owning a pet could increase life satisfaction up to 3-4 points in some people. Thus, good news for all cat and dog owners: Owning a pet clearly makes its owner happier and more satisfied with their lives in the long run!

Interestingly, the scientists also statistically converted the life satisfaction gain caused by owning a pet to a monetary value. They found out that owning a pet had a monetary value of around 70,000 British pounds (around 93,000 US dollars). This sum is similar to the converted monetary value that other studies found for meeting once or twice a week with friends or relatives. Thus, owning a pet has the same positive effect on life satisfaction as meeting friends or relatives! The idea that pets can be their owners’ best friends does not seem so far-fetched when looking at these numbers!

Also, it shows that buying a pet is a great deal, financially – while most cats and dogs cost less than $1000 (with few exceptions) the increase in life satisfaction is worth over $90,000. What a steal!