Countries With More Cats Report Higher Happiness, Study Finds

A new University of Chicago-led study found that countries with higher cat density tended to report greater subjective well-being. However, greater exposure to the cat-associated parasite Toxoplasma gondii was linked to lower well-being. The researchers emphasized that the findings show associations—not cause and effect.

“Subjective well-being, commonly assessed through indicators of life satisfaction and well-being, is gaining relevance as a central indicator of human and social development,” said lead author Dr. Dario Maestripieri of the University of Chicago and his colleagues.

Although economic measures such as per-capita gross domestic product (GDP), household income, and health spending are known to correlate positively with happiness, they do not fully explain differences in well-being between countries.

How Cats May Relate to National Happiness

Previous research has suggested that companion animals, particularly cats and dogs, may reduce loneliness, encourage emotional bonds, lower stress, and improve mood. In many societies, pets are treated as family members, while caring for animals may reflect cultural values related to empathy, leisure, and relationship well-being.

“Therefore, the number of companion animals in a society or country may serve as a social behavioral indicator of lifestyle quality and animal-related social norms,” the researchers wrote.

For the study, the researchers compared national happiness scores with cat density, measures of wealth, and exposure to Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite associated with cats that can infect humans. The analysis covered 93 countries.

National happiness was strongly correlated with cat density, although the association was even stronger for national income and GDP per capita.

Toxoplasma gondii Was Linked to Lower Well-Being

Countries with higher rates of recent Toxoplasma gondii infection, measured through IgM antibodies, were more likely to report lower levels of well-being. Chronic infection, measured through IgG antibodies, showed a weaker association.

In regression models that excluded GDP and income, cat density and recent infection rates remained the strongest predictors of national well-being.

Why Wealthier Countries May Have More Cats but Less Parasite Exposure

The researchers also found that wealthier countries tended to have more cats but lower exposure to Toxoplasma gondii. They suggested that this counterintuitive pattern may reflect differences in how cats are kept and cared for.

In wealthier countries, cats are more likely to live indoors, receive veterinary care, and eat commercially produced food. In poorer countries, free-ranging cats may be more common, potentially increasing opportunities for parasite transmission.

The Study Shows Correlation, Not Causation

The study does not establish that owning or living around more cats makes people happier. It also does not show that Toxoplasma gondii directly causes lower levels of well-being.

“What we found is that countries with more cats tended to report higher levels of happiness, while countries with more exposure to Toxoplasma gondii were more likely to report lower levels of well-being,” the researchers said.

“Of course, these are national associations, so we can’t say that more cats will make people happier, or that more Toxoplasma gondii makes people less happy. However, this pattern is interesting enough to merit further investigation.”

The researchers said the findings are notable because they connect factors that are often studied separately, including wealth, health, human-animal relationships, and infectious disease.

“Our study suggests that understanding why some populations report higher levels of well-being may need to consider biological and ecological factors alongside the socioeconomic conditions that have traditionally received the most attention,” they said.

One of the study’s most surprising findings was that countries with more cats did not necessarily have greater exposure to Toxoplasma gondii. Instead, the relationship appeared to go in the opposite direction.

“This highlights an important point: the relationship between humans, animals, and infectious diseases depends not just on the presence of animals, but also on the social, economic, and environmental conditions in which their interactions occur,” the researchers said.

The results were published in the journal PLoS ONE.

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JI Boraz-Leon et al. 2026. Wealth, health, cats, and Toxoplasma gondii: An ecological correlational study of subjective well-being in 93 countries. PLoS ONE 21 (9): e0357911. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0357911