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The French Bulldog collapse, charted
- French Bulldog
- Bulldog
- Pug
- Boston Terrier
The figures
The chart shows the shape; this is the series itself. A screen reader, a phone and a journalist checking a number all want the table rather than the picture.
| Year | French Bulldog | Bulldog | Pug | Boston Terrier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 21,470 | 7,785 | 10,408 | 2,031 |
| 2017 | 30,887 | 9,450 | 10,783 | 2,287 |
| 2018 | 36,785 | 10,665 | 9,742 | 2,099 |
| 2019 | 33,661 | 9,922 | 6,751 | 1,754 |
| 2020 | 39,266 | 11,594 | 6,033 | 1,315 |
| 2021 | 54,074 | 15,403 | 6,122 | 2,143 |
| 2022 | 42,538 | 11,667 | 3,451 | 1,603 |
| 2023 | 26,704 | 6,924 | 1,994 | 1,216 |
| 2024 | 13,789 | 3,865 | 1,316 | 820 |
| 2025 | 7,750 | 2,711 | 834 | 746 |
Royal Kennel Club annual registrations. Retrieved 2026-09-09.
What the numbers say
The French Bulldog went from 21,470 registrations in 2016 to 54,074 in 2021 — and then gave all of it back and more. At 7,750 in 2025 the breed sits below where it started the series. The boom did not level off. It unwound.
It is not just that everything is down
Total UK registrations are falling, so the obvious objection is that this is a market story rather than a breed one. The quarterly figures answer it. Comparing the first half of 2026 with the first half of 2025 — the only like-for-like comparison the published data allows —
| First half | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| French Bulldog | 4,154 | 2,676 | -35.6% |
| All breeds | 80,897 | 75,546 | -6.6% |
The breed is falling about 5.4 times faster than the market it sits in.
The Pug went first
The Pug peaked in 2017 at 10,783 and is now at 834 — down 92.3%, a steeper fall than the French Bulldog's and one that started about four years earlier. Whether that says anything about where the French Bulldog goes next is a guess, not a finding: it is one other breed, and nothing here establishes that the two are driven by the same thing. It is the nearest comparison the series contains, and worth watching for that reason alone.
Where these figures come from
Every number on this page is read from the Royal Kennel Club's own published statistics, not from press coverage of them. The files, and the date they were read:
- Annual registrations 2016-2025, Utility group (French Bulldog, Bulldog, Boston Terrier)
- Annual registrations 2016-2025, Toy group (Pug)
- Quarterly registrations 2025-2026, Utility group, and the all-group summary
What these numbers are not. Kennel Club registrations are not a census of the breed. They count pedigree puppies registered with this one body, so they miss unregistered litters, imports that are never registered, and every dog sold without papers. They are the best consistent series that exists for UK pedigree demand, and they are a proxy, not a population.
Use this
Free to use with a link back. The figures are the Royal Kennel Club's; the chart and the analysis are ours.
Cite this page
FrenchBulldogs.co.uk, "French Bulldog registrations, charted", https://www.frenchbulldogs.co.uk/data/french-bulldog-registrations/ (data: The Royal Kennel Club, retrieved 2026-09-09).
Embed the chart
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<p style="font-size:13px">Chart by <a href="https://www.frenchbulldogs.co.uk/data/french-bulldog-registrations/">FrenchBulldogs.co.uk</a>, from Royal Kennel Club data</p>
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</script>Common questions
How many French Bulldogs are registered in the UK?
7,750 were registered with the Royal Kennel Club in 2025, down from a peak of 54,074 in 2021. That is a fall of 85.7% in four years, and 2025 is now below the 21,470 registered in 2016.
Are French Bulldogs declining because all dog registrations are falling?
No. Registrations across all breeds fell 6.6% in the first half of 2026 against the same period in 2025. French Bulldog registrations fell 35.6% over the same months — about 5.4 times faster. So the market decline does not account for the breed's, though it is part of it.
Is the Pug declining too?
Further and earlier. The Pug peaked in 2017 at 10,783 and is down to 834, a fall of 92.3%. Its decline began about four years before the French Bulldog's. That makes it the nearest comparison the data contains, but not evidence of what the French Bulldog will do — one other breed is not a trend.
Can I use this chart?
Yes, freely, with a link back. The underlying figures are the Royal Kennel Club’s and are cited on the page; the chart and the analysis are ours. There is an embed snippet on this page and a citation line you can copy.
Do these numbers count every French Bulldog in the UK?
No, and it matters. These count pedigree puppies registered with one body. They miss unregistered litters, unregistered imports and every dog sold without papers — which in this breed is a large and unmeasured number. Treat the series as the best consistent measure of registered pedigree demand, not as a population count.