A 2026 study found that countries with more cats per 10,000 people tended to report higher happiness scores. The finding describes an association between national measures—not evidence that having a cat makes an individual happier.
What did the study find?
Borráz-León and colleagues analyzed country-level data for 93 countries in a peer-reviewed study published in PLOS ONE on September 30, 2026. Cat density—the number of cats per 10,000 inhabitants—was positively correlated with national happiness: r=0.620, p<0.001, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.480–0.733.
That was a substantial correlation, but it was not the strongest reported relationship with happiness. In the same study, happiness correlated with GDP at r=0.800 (95% CI 0.718–0.866), income level at r=0.780 (95% CI 0.686–0.849), and health expenditure at r=0.350 (95% CI 0.162–0.521). Each reported correlation had p<0.001.
What does “happiness” mean here?
The researchers used national happiness scores drawn from World Population Review’s 2025 Happiest Countries report. Those scores represent a three-year average for 2022–2024, not happiness measured in 2026. The underlying framework uses Gallup polling across six categories: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and perceptions of internal and external corruption.
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What did the adjusted analysis show?
The researchers also modeled cat density, health expenditure, and Toxoplasma gondii IgM and IgG seroprevalence together. The model accounted for 47% of the variation in national happiness scores (R²=0.470). Within it, cat density remained positively associated with happiness (β=0.520, p<0.001), while IgM seroprevalence was negatively associated (β=−0.240, p=0.021). Health expenditure and IgG were small, non-significant predictors in that model.
These adjusted results describe statistical relationships after accounting for the other included variables; they do not establish that cat density or parasite exposure causes a change in happiness. The authors also report an exploratory mediation analysis, which decomposes associations but cannot establish a causal sequence or mechanism.
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Why this does not prove cats make people happier
The unit of analysis was the country. The study did not compare the happiness of individual cat owners with that of non-owners, and a national cat count cannot show whether cats are pets, how people interact with them, or what those interactions are like.
Other country-level differences could help explain the pattern, including wealth, living conditions, culture, attitudes toward pets, public health, and factors the analysis did not measure. The study is exploratory and cross-sectional, so it cannot determine which differences came first.
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What the parasite results can—and cannot—tell us
The study used T. gondii IgM and IgG seroprevalence data drawn from studies of pregnant women as proxies for broader population exposure. Pregnant women may not represent everyone in a country, which limits how confidently those data can be generalized.
The paper also reports a counterintuitive negative association between cat density and T. gondii seroprevalence. The authors suggest that cats in wealthier countries may more often live indoors, eat processed food, and receive routine veterinary care, while free-roaming cats may be more common in lower- and middle-income settings. They offer this as a possible explanation, not a tested or established cause.
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How much confidence should readers place in the result?
The authors report post-hoc power of 85% to detect a moderate correlation of r=0.3 with 93 countries at α=0.05. They also note that the study was underpowered to reliably detect small effects such as r<0.20. The sample therefore offers evidence of the reported moderate associations, but weaker relationships may have gone undetected.
The authors describe the subject as “a complex and yet understudied relationship between human-animal interactions, infectious disease ecology, and national well-being.” Their results support further investigation, particularly longitudinal and interdisciplinary work, rather than a claim that cats directly raise happiness.
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