The Void Concealed by Pets: Grave Social Issues Behind China’s Booming Pet Economy

Shuxin Liang ()
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Shuxin Liang: Dalian Polytechnic University, School of Management

A chapter in Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Hybrid Commerce, Human Capital, and Economic Dynamics (ICHCH 2025), 2026, pp 4-11 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract With the development of population aging stress in China and increasing urban stress, the role of pets has become more essential on a daily basis, which could offer fantastic companionship and significantly relieve pressure, while the pet economy has gradually become an emergent economic pattern. While majority of existing research chiefly explore the motivations behind the growth of the Chinese pet market but lack investigation about the detriment and crisis of downsides. This study aims at inadequacies within the industry and the deeper social challenges, which focuses on the analysis of hidden problems and challenges behind the booming pet economy in China, offering corresponding insights and suggestions. The findings show that the prosperity of pet economy is not only a consequence of progress of life standard and shifting lifestyles, but also a reflection of emotional gaps, social anxiety, and inadequate support systems, which could be corroborated by societal issues such as population aging and urban stress are vital contributors to increase of pet economy. Moreover, the governance imbalance in the pet industry is the severe problem that lack of attention as well, such as illegal breeding and stray animals. According to these findings, this paper proposes several suggestions such as rigorously regulate the pet industry chain and improve the societal emotional support systems, in order to help to formulate more inclusive welfare frameworks and complete emotional support systems, bringing balance and a sustainable and healthy development to the China’s pet economy.

Keywords: Pet Economy; Population Aging; Urban Stress; Social Support Systems; Emotional Needs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.2991/978-2-38476-585-0_2

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