Three in ten South Koreans own a pet, and those pets are left alone at home for nearly six hours a day on average, according to a new report.

The 2025 Pet Report, released Sunday by KB Financial Group's Management Research Institute, found that as of the end of 2024, approximately five-point-91 million households in South Korea owned pets, up one-point-one percent from the previous year.

On an individual basis, the number of pet owners reached 15-point-46 million, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the population.

Among pet-owning households, four-point-55 million had dogs and one-point-37 million had cats, reflecting year-on-year increases of 40-thousand and 20-thousand households, respectively.

Meanwhile, 80 percent of pet-owning households reported leaving their pets alone at home for at least a short period during the day, with an average solitary time of five hours and 54 minutes per day.