Pets Replace Kids Signals

Across U.S. states, higher birthrates correlate with more 'pregnancy' searches while lower-birth states search more for 'cats.' Nationally, as birthrates have fallen over three decades, pet spending has surged. This pattern supports the idea that pets increasingly serve as substitute children, reinforced by our evolved attraction to infant-like features. — If pet‑as‑child substitution is measurable in consumer and search data, it reframes parts of the fertility decline as a cultural substitution that shapes markets and policy messaging.