A survey carried out by the GfK market research company has revealed that birds are the most popular pets in Turkey. Having conducted the research last summer, the survey asked participants from 22 countries including Turkey, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. whether they keep a pet in their houses and if they do, what it is.

The survey was done on 27,000 Internet users above the age of 15, Deutsche Welle reported. Of the Turkish participants in the survey, 12 percent keep dogs, 15 percent keep cats, 16 percent keep fish and 20 percent keep birds as pets at home. The world average for pets is 33 percent for dogs, 23 percent for cats, 12 percent for fish and 6 percent for birds. Among the surveyed countries, Turkey leads in terms of the number of bird lovers. Turkey is listed in second place for the number of people who keep fish as pets with 16 percent, following China where 17 percent of the participants are fish-lovers.

Only 12 percent of the people surveyed in Turkey keep dogs as pets at home. According to the survey, 29 percent of the German internet users keep cats as pets and the cat lovers are followed by dog lovers with 21 percent. However, only 6 percent of the German participants keep birds as pets. More than half of the Germans stated that they keep a pet in their houses. The survey also showed that the highest pet ownership is in Latin America. Some 80 percent of Argentinians and Mexicans and 75 percent of Brazilians keep a pet in their houses. Latin Americans mostly prefer dogs as pets.