Study shows pets improve life more than partner or $145K

As if we needed another reason to adopt a pet

While love and money are great, they’re no match for a cute furry face when it comes to improving our life satisfaction, according to a new study.

Happiness doesn’t cost a thing, except a cheap adoption fee.

According to a new study, even love and $145K can’t come close to providing the same wellbeing benefits as having a cat or dog.

Anyone who’s ever owned a pet is well aware that no one else will ever be as excited to see you as your furry companion, and even the love of your life probably won’t be as okay with you staring at them for 24 hours a day. 

And while $145,000 (converted from the study’s £70,000) could help us tick a fair few things off our ultimate wish lists, according to the study, all that money still couldn’t buy the same benefits pets provide.

Pets are better for our wellbeing than we thought

Economic researchers Michael Gmeiner and Adelina Gschwandtner studied close to 2500 families and used the ‘life satisfaction approach’ to estimate pets’ impact on our happiness. 

The process uses regression analysis to figure out the price of different features of our lives. 

We already know that pets are great for us, reducing stress, feelings of loneliness and even blood pressure, while boosting our fitness, heart health, mental health and socialisation. Image: Pexels

Gschwandtner told The Times, “It’s often used to put a value on civic amenities — things like clean air or green space, things you can’t buy in a supermarket.”

We already know that pets are great for us, reducing stress, feelings of loneliness and even blood pressure, while boosting our fitness, heart health, mental health and socialisation.

But the research proves our furry friends have a greater impact on our overall health, increasing life satisfaction by three to four points on a scale of one to seven.

Researchers found that a pet companion is worth up to $145,000 a year in terms of life satisfaction. Image: iStock

Estimating the ‘size of the impact of pets on human life satisfaction and wellbeing in monetary units’, the researchers found that having a pet companion ‘is worth up to £70,000 ($145,000) a year in terms of life satisfaction, similar to values obtained in the literature for meeting with friends and relatives on a regular basis.’

“Given that pets are considered by many as best friends and family members, these values appear to be plausible,” Gschwandtner said. “I also suspect that many people don’t actually realise how important their pets are for them.”

The difference between cat people and dog people

The researchers also attempted to answer the age-old question of how cat people and dog people differ in personality.

The study found that cat owners seem more open, while dog owners come across as more extroverted, agreeable and less neurotic.

The study found that cat owners seem more open, while dog owners come across as more ‘extroverted, agreeable and less neurotic.’

Pets are obviously great for our social life, with the team saying ‘overall, pet carers in general appear to be more open, conscientious, and extroverted than non-pet carers.’

‘The results in the present study bring strong support for the hypothesis that pets increase human life satisfaction and wellbeing similarly to family and friends and that, to some extent, they are even a substitute for these’, the team concluded.

Originally published as Study shows pets improve life more than partner or $145K