Cheaper than a child
The cost of childraising is sending Korean couples to the pet shop, say Hayoung Choi and Minwoo Park, of Reuters, in Seoul.
IN Namyangju, just outside Seoul, Lee Jaehwan goes for a walk every day carrying an urn with the ashes of his dog Kkotgae. In a country where the cost of raising a child is becoming prohibitive, more and more young people are choosing pets before babies.
KANG Sungil buys Sancho, his Pomeranian, a toy every business trip and this Lunar New Year holiday will dress him up in a new suit to visit ‘‘grandma’’, Kang’s mother.
Kang and his wife say children are too expensive and bring too much pressure. Instead, they have opted to shower Sancho with love and gifts.
They are not alone. South Korea’s pet industry is booming, fuelled by the same factors that have made the country’s birth rate, at 1.05 births per woman, the lowest in the world: the high cost of education and housing, and extremely long working days.
‘‘Social pressures in South Korea are such that parents are required to provide resources for decades, from private schooling to tutoring to art classes,’’ said Kang, a 39year old manager of a pet funeral home.
He says he finds it hard to imagine being able to afford all that, but is happy to spend about 100,000 won ($NZ130) a month on Sancho.
On top of education expenses, an average South Korean household must budget roughly 12.8 years of income to buy a midrange home, compared with 8.8 years in 2014, data from KB Kookmin Bank shows. Adding to their stress, South Koreans work the thirdmost hours per year among OECD nations, lagging just Mexico and Costa Rica.
‘‘The pet population is growing as more people choose not to have babies or even not to marry,’’ said Kim Sookyung, manager at Samjong KPMG Economic Research Institute.
Petowning households have surged to 28% of all South Korean households in 2018, compared with 18% in 2012, government data shows.
That in turn has spurred a flourishing petcare industry whose offerings include tailored pet diets and highpriced photo shoots. Petrelated startups are also in vogue with venture capitalists.
The South Korean petrelated industry was worth 2.7 trillion won last year, and that could more than double by 2027, the Korea Rural Economic Institute says.
Firms seeking to profit from the boom include Pet Pick, which produces tailored food for more than 10,000 animals. It is one of four pet startups to receive investments from online retailer GS Home Shopping.
‘‘We only use highquality ingredients, such as salmon and cranberry, so our products are more than twice as expensive as regular dry pet food,’’ Pet Pick cofounder Park Eunbyul said at the firm’s Seoul factory.
‘‘Many of our customers are millennials who treat pets as their babies and are willing to pay more.’’
Leading venture capital fund Korea Investment Partners invested in two pet startups in 2018 — Bacon, which makes toys themed for holidays such as Christmas or Halloween, and Pet Friends, which promises to deliver pet products within one hour. The fund plans to invest in Picnic, which sells handmade pet food, later this year.
Established firms are also cashing in. More than 6000 customers in three months signed up with Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance, for a revamped pet insurance product launched in October, compared with roughly 100 a year for its earlier insurance programme.
Sales of pet products at CJ ENM’s TV and online shopping division rose three times last year, a cactusshaped water purifier for cats priced at more than $140 doing particularly well.
‘‘It’s twice as expensive as an ordinary purifier but we sell dozens every day,’’ said Lee Dawoon, who procures pet products for the online mall.
Pet funeral services are also increasingly popular and the home where Kang works now holds more than 10 services a day, compared with three to five when it opened two years ago.
In Namyangju, just outside Seoul, Lee Jaehwan goes for a walk every day carrying an urn with the ashes of his dog Kkotgae, continuing the routine they used to share.
‘‘I’ve always introduced Kkotgae as my only son, the most loved one in the world,’’ 51yearold Lee said in a tearful interview at home, next to a ceremonial table with photos, some food and burning incense.
‘‘He never saw the ocean. I wish we had visited together.’’