Fifth of adults choose pet over partner on V-Day: poll

New York: Rather than spending Valentine's Day with their partner, one-fifth of adults would prefer to be with their pet, although the French still came top for romance, according to a joint global poll by Reuters.

The survey of 24,000 people in 23 countries found 21 per cent of adults would rather spend February 14 with their pet than their spouse, although the French were least likely to choose a furry friend over a human with only 10 percent taking that option.

But the survey found that age and income were more of a determining factor than nationality when it came to romance, with younger, less affluent people more likely to choose their pet as their Valentine's Day companion.

John Wright, senior vice president of Ipsos, said 25 per cent of people aged under 35 opted for their pet over their partner compared to 18 per cent of those aged 35-54 and 14 per cent of people aged 55 plus.

Men and women were evenly split over the question.

Those choosing pets over people were also more likely to be those who have a lower income (24 per cent) compared to those who were middle or higher income earners (20 per cent).

"Likely defying stereotype, the desire to spurn a partner for a pet is not rooted in gender but rather age and even there it seems the older you are, the least likely it is you'd choose pet over partner," said Wright.

"While there are country differences, it's more of a personal choice made by younger and less affluent individuals."

On a country-by-country basis, residents of Turkey were the most likely, at 49 per cent, to choose their pet over their spouse or partner.

Next came India with 41 percent, then Japan with 30 per cent, China with 29 per cent, the United States with 27 per cent and Australia with 25 per cent.

On the other hand, the nations where residents were the least likely to want to spend the day with a pet instead of their spouse or partner were France at 10 per cent, Mexico 11 per cent, the Netherlands 12 per cent and Hungary at 12 per cent.

The following results table from the Reuters/Ipsos poll begins with countries where citizens were most likely to agree that they "would rather spend the day with a pet than with my spouse or partner:"

Agree Disagree

Turkey: 49 per cent 51 per cent

India: 41 per cent 59 per cent

Japan: 30 per cent 70 percent

China: 29 per cent 71 per cent

United States: 27 per cent 73 per cent

Australia: 25 percent 75 percent

South Korea: 23 per cent 77 per cent

Poland: 23 per cent 77 per cent

Italy: 22 per cent 78 per cent

Czech Republic: 20 per cent 80 per cent

Canada: 20 per cent 80 per cent

Spain: 19 percent 81 percent

Argentina: 19 per cent 81 per cent

Brazil: 18 per cent 82 per cent

Britain: 18 per cent 82 per cent

Russia: 17 per cent 83 per cent

Belgium: 15 per cent 85 per cent

Sweden: 15 per cent 85 per cent

Germany: 14 percent 86 percent

Hungry: 12 per cent 88 per cent

Netherlands: 12 per cent 88 per cent

Mexico: 11 per cent 89 per cent

France: 10 per cent 90 per cent

About 1,000 individuals participated on a country by country basis via an Ipsos online panel with weighting employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflected that of the adult population according to the most recent country census data.