There are 780m farm animals and 157m pets in Europe, yet 48% of European vets focus on companion animals, according to the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE).
Of the 233,300 vets in Europe, 18% of vets focus on food producing animals, a survey by the FVE found.
Some 75% of revenue European vets receives comes from pets and €14 billion of European expenditure is spent on pet food each year, the FVE says.
There is almost three times the amount of money spent on pet food (€14 billion) as there is on animal medicines (€5 billion).
A further €11 billion is spent on pet related products, the survey found.
Vets in Europe put their happiness at 7.3 out of 10 according to the survey and 60% of European vets work in private practice and 19% work in public service. Some 7% of vets are employed in education and research with another 4% working in private research and industry, it says.
When it comes to working hours, on average European vets work 46.8 hours per week, the FVE survey found.
According to the figures there appears to be a low unemployment rate in the veterinary profession. Some 3% of vets are unemployed however, another 23% are underemployed.
Looking ahead to the challenges of the next five years, 83% of respondents to the FVE survey think they need to specialise more and 80% said that they need more business training.
Image: Federation of Veterinarians of Europe
