Kindness Index 2025
Each year we publish a UK-wide investigation into people’s attitudes towards animals, called the Animal Kindness Index. The report is produced by the RSPCA, Scottish SPCA and Ulster SPCA, and includes the results of two surveys commissioned by YouGov – one for those aged 7–15 and one for people aged 16 and over – to find out the values people hold around animal welfare.
As the leading animal welfare charity in the UK, we use these insights to guide our work advocating for animals, educating the public on animal welfare issues, and creating a kinder world for all animals to ensure they live a good life.
Sections
- Key findings – Our round-up of the key points and reflections from the 2025 Kindness Index
- Pet owners – Our love for pets and how we care for them
- Citizens – How we behave and how that impacts animals
- Consumers – How we consider animal welfare when spending our money
- Role models – Who is responsible for animal welfare and what impact do they have?
- Connected to nature – Our love for wild animals and how we treat the world around us
- Conclusion – What the research has shown us and what steps we need to take to be kinder to animals
About the research
The 2025 Animal Kindness Index is the fourth in this series. The report from the RSPCA, Scottish SPCA and Ulster SPCA examines the responses of more than 7,000 people aged 7+ to understand how the UK population thinks about and feels and acts towards animals and animal welfare.
YouGov online surveyed a total of 6,272 UK adults (aged 16+) between 24 March and 11 April 2025, and 1,188 children (aged between 7 and 15) between 17 March and 3 April 2025. The results have been weighted separately across both surveys to be representative of the UK population. Data referenced from the adults’ survey is based on the responses from those aged 18+, which was a total sample size of 6,103, unless stated otherwise. When comparisons are made with previous years, it is done on the basis of respondents aged 18 and over.
In addition to the survey results, we looked at people’s behaviour by analysing Google search data, and drew on resources across the RSPCA, Scottish SPCA and Ulster SPCA, to produce The Kindness Index: Reality Check. The Reality Check is an additional layer of analysis that compares our findings from the Animal Kindness Index survey results (‘attitudes’) to ‘real-life data’, for example, TV programme viewing figures and the presence of government actions and legislation (‘realities’). We do this through a series of indicators and scoring criteria that contribute to goals for each of our identified themes. Each criterion is scored out of a maximum of five points, and these are then averaged to create the overall goal score for both the attitudes and realities. The Reality Check measures whether the actions of individuals truly represent their intent and, if not, where we need to make improvements.