Cats or dogs? In East Asia, more people are becoming feline fans | CNN

It’s an age-old question: are you a cat person or a dog person? In East Asia, it seems more and more people these days are Team Cat. Take Taiwan, the self-ruled island where pet cats outnumbered dogs for the first time in 2025, according to a government survey. The pet cat population has surged rapidly, from 1.3 million in 2023 to 1.7 million last year – an increase of nearly 33%. The same thing happened in mainland China in 2021. Japan was perhaps the earliest originator of this trend, with cats overtaking dogs a decade ago. Even in places where dogs are still more common, like South Korea or Hong Kong, cats are growing in popularity. All these places have certain factors in common: people living in small apartments in dense cities, often lonely, and working busy jobs that leave little time for a canine companion. “Having a cat would be more convenient (in a city), because you have to frequently take dogs out for walks, you might not have that much time, and some people are afraid of dogs,” said Hong Kong resident Ellen Chung, speaking to CNN one afternoon at a cat café filled with visitors and frock-wearing cats. And, she added, “I think cats are just cuter.” If thos