Online Dating is a relatively recent method used by people with a goal of searching for and interacting with potential romantic or sexual partners, via the internet.
Recommended
Online dating has gained so much exposure all over the world. As such, let us look at the recent trends and numbers associated with internet dating, online dating or virtual dating.
We can see that over 7 years, from 2017, there are going to be an extra 10 million people using online dating platforms as a way to meet someone.
That’s a huge increase. That’s just under a 50% increase in under a decade – and that’s without knowing what the technology will be like in 2024 too. If you consider that apps like Tinder were established less than 10 years ago, who knows how we will use a dating site or app 4-5 years in the future.
More and more dating sites or apps will use our online information to target us so that we make more efficient use of the online dating experience. That’s not to mention that more and more dating sites and apps will be established that fill more and more holes in the market.
People are increasingly more open about their sexual orientation and sexual preferences. This gives dating sites and apps more scope to focus on specific sections of the population.
The types of people that use online dating platforms also produce a lot of interesting online dating statistics too. While the race of those using online dating users is broadly equal, as well as the usage by gender is about equal, the LGB community is far more prevalent in terms of online dating.
Interestingly, it is this section of the population that has the greatest number of successful relationships, too, when it comes to meeting someone online. Over 20% of their relationships that began through an online dating site or app went on to end in marriage or at least become a committed long-term relationship.
Another way to categorize online daters is to see what age range they fall into. The biggest users in that respect, by far, are those in their twenties. Almost half of those that have ever used a dating site fall into this bracket. And almost 20% of them have found themselves in a committed relationship as a result or even marriage.
By Gender
Even a different study by YouGov confirms the differences between men and women when it comes to using online dating sites. While the figures are not exactly the same as those found above, YouGov found that almost 40 percent of all men have used online dating as a way to find a partner online.
Conversely, that is in the face of 70% of women said that they have never used a dating site. Female users and online daters, according to YouGov, only make up 27% of the population.
By Region/Location
Breaking down online daters and online website users into where they come from in the USA also generates some enlightening online dating statistics.
There are some apps that are used by perhaps predictably larger amounts of the population in certain regions simply down to the natural makeup of the public – like 69.7% of all the users of Black People Meet being from the South, or 50.7% of all users of Coffee Meets Bagel being from the West.
However, eHarmony sees most of its users, at 58.4%, coming from the South and only 10.1% of them coming from the Midwest. That is a huge proportion of their users that come from just one area.
By Age
As briefly alluded to from our first graph, the younger generations seem to be the main users of online dating sites and apps. According to YouGov, it is almost half of the population of 18-34-year-olds in the US say they have ever used a dating site or app. However, that is in stark comparison to 81% of all the people aged over 55 who say they have never used a dating website.
By Sexual Orientation
By far the biggest stand-out dating statistics studies, that see who has ever used a dating website, highlight that the huge section of society that has logged onto a dating site or app are members of the LGB community.
In one of our first graphs above, we can see that 55% of all people who say they have ever used a dating site or app are not straight. This could be because it still remains easier to find other members of the LGB community online, so this could be set to change with more and more people far more open about their sexuality.
Platforms Used In Online Dating
So now we know what type of people have used online dating platforms, what online dating statistics are generated if we look at what platforms are the most popular? While some online dating statistics vary in some findings, there is a particular area that seems to stand out across any study. The resounding answer is that Tinder seems to be the most used by far.
According to Sensor Tower, 72% of all monthly active users of dating apps used Tinder as their app of choice in 2023.
These statistics are perhaps not surprising – it is so well known and the ease of use within the app is undoubtedly a reason why it has been so successful.
Other popular apps are Bumble with 19% of the market share and Hinge with 9%.
Intent When Dating Online
It is all very well looking at online dating statistics in terms of demographics, but before users decide whether dating sites or apps will be useful for their purposes, they need to know what other users intend when they sign up for online dating platforms.
So what are the reasons people use online dating? Is it really to find a lifetime partner? Or is it more often than not only ever used to find a sexual partner? Is it to have an affair? Kaspersky did some work on generating online dating statistics behind why both male users and female users sign up to online dating sites. Some of their findings were quite surprising.
While the majority of people did admit that they have used a dating site simply for fun, a large proportion of people use them to find friends, too. The next largest reason is perhaps an intention that sits somewhere in between finding friends and just having a good time – around a quarter of all users or online daters, users say they sign up to sites or apps to have a good time with an interesting person.
There are, of course, people who use it with the more commonly believed stereotypical intentions in mind. Almost 20% of the men asked to say they use online dating for sex, while only 5% of women admit that this is what they have ever used online dating sites for. However, in terms of people using online dating sites or apps to find a serious relationship or marriage partner, men still were the biggest group to admit to using them for this intention.
For example, 20% of all male users admitted they online dated to find a partner, while 12% said they used it for marriage. With respect to female users and women, 17% of this demographic admitted to using online dating sites or apps for a serious relationships and 10% for marriage.
This is perhaps surprising – many people would imagine that it is women who used online dating as a means to find a committed partner.
Is Online Dating Safe?
Dating online in the main remains safe. If you use online dating as a way to meet other female users or other male users, you will be totally secure as long as you follow a few recommendations to maintain your safety at all times. These measures protect two parts of your life – both physically if you ever meet someone you have contacted online and also your online data. Both are crucial to keeping secure so that you do not fall victim to any crimes.
With respect to your online data, it is imperative that you secure your networks and your devices. This means using strong passwords and password management systems to ensure that your devices cannot be hacked into. Secondly, ensure that you are always using a secure network.
If you are in your home, protect your own network by using a password – again with the help of a password management system – and if you are out, ensure that you either do not divulge any passwords over the network you’re using or any sensitive data.
This means you never tell the people you are contacting your address, your bank account details, or any other unique identifiers that can work towards a picture that helps an online criminal commit identity theft.
Secondly, ensure you do not become part of another horrible set of statistics as a person that has an ill-fated meeting with a person they have met online. Both men and women are both capable of falling victim to someone who says they are someone they are not.
There are some men and women out there that use online dating sites to meet others with wrongful intentions. To ensure that you protect yourself against these men or women when you use online dating, try to meet them in public places until you are sure they are safe.
Always tell others where you are going and who you are meeting too so that they know your movements in advance. All these things will work towards maintaining your safety at all times.
Leave a Reply