Dating can sometimes be a troublesome area of our lives. For something that should give us great joy, dating can be a perilous journey for many until we find the one. In the past, some people have found it difficult to meet someone using traditional routes. More and more, therefore, we are using online dating sites and apps to further our romantic lives and our success there.
But has the huge growth in online dating sites and apps actually helped us be more successful in our love lives? How many of us who have ever used a dating site as a way to meet someone, have met someone that we have started a serious relationship with? Has the increased usage of dating sites and apps simply improved the quantity we date as opposed to the quality?
Here in this article, we look at online dating statistics and what users say about their success with using online date sites to help their love lives.
We investigate what online daters say about any relationship that they have started online. We ask if they say they have ever found true love and whether they like someone seriously through the use of online dating sites and apps.
Online Dating Statistics By Year
Contents
It goes without saying that the use of dating sites or apps has increased and that there are more and more online dating users looking to start a relationship with men or women around the world.
Below, we look at the exact number of online dating users in the US between 2017 and the projected usage up to 2024. While the rate of growth slows down, 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.
Online Dating Demographics in the US
So what are the sections of the population that have used a dating site or app? It perhaps goes without saying that more and more people have online dated, but who are the biggest users exactly? And more importantly, what percentage of those have ever married or been in a committed relationship with someone they met on a dating site or app?
In the below graph, we see that just under a third of the US population have ever used a dating site or app. That’s a huge section of our society that makes use of the internet to find someone to start a relationship with. Plus, over 10% of the population have met their other half online. While that doesn’t sound like a huge amount, if you consider that every 10th person you meet has had a successful online dating experience, that’s a lot.
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 being about equal, the LGB community is the far more prevalent online dating users. 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 saying 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 that 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, highlights that the huge section of society that have 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 Survey Monkey, over a quarter of all online daters, use Tinder as their app of choice.
Tinder 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 well-used sites are Bumble, Plenty of Fish and OKCupid.
What Online Daters Look For First In The Profile
Sadly there are no hard statistics that will prove what online daters look for first in the profile of either female users or male users. All men and women will typically look for something different in many online profiles. However, if you use online dating as a way to meet men or women for romantic purposes, there are a number of things that can improve your chances of striking up a connection with someone.
Firstly, it can be a great idea to ask your friends for help. This is something that statistics won’t often show, but friends will know you really well and suggest ways to put your best characteristics forward. These could well be traits that you would have otherwise overlooked. Also, they’ll help you avoid any cliches that can work against you in a profile. Cliches often have the effect on making people roll their eyes when they read many online dating profiles.
It’s also a good idea to remain as honest as possible but also using a really positive and optimistic tone. Statistics do show that people in general – if they use online dating or not – are all drawn to those that tend to be happier. There seem to be no statistics that prove which interests or hobbies larger sections of the population are drawn to over others.
Finally, in terms of photos, again there are no hard statistics that have an overriding direction on what we should all use online dating profile dating-wise. Presumably, this is because it points towards how we all have highly diverging wants and needs in a partner. With honesty in mind, it is better in the long run to use an up-to-date photo. Some statistics say that action shots get the most hits but some statistics argue that photographic portraits are the best for use online.
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 to 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? 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 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 relationship 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 keep 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 up 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.
Other Concerns On Online Dating
With the rise of internet dating, there has also been a rise in how people abuse the system of online dating sites and apps. As such there are, quite rightly, a number of concerns the public has when they are dating online and meeting other men and women through the use of the internet.
In fact, 63% of all online daters say that they worry about their handset or computer being infected by a hacker’s virus, malware or spyware. The implications of this are large and can have a material impact on a user’s life if hackers do in fact manage to get their illegal software installed on users’ handsets and networks. Additionally, 61% of all online daters say that they are scared of their data being stolen from their chosen dating site or app in a data breach. Many more concerns continue along the same vein with a similar portion of all users admitting their worry.
Additionally, there are some other more physical worries and concerns that users say prey on their minds. Some male users and female users of a dating site or app say that they worry about meeting up with someone in real life who is not who they say they are. From there, users either are anxious that at best the person they eventually meet has simply lied about their physical appearance or worse that they are a criminal seeking out vulnerable people to attack in either a physical or psychological way.
Yet of all the concerns that users were questioned about, less than half of them admitted that they worry about the fear of rejection.
How Long Does It Take Before People Start Giving Out Personal Information?
Given all the pitfalls that can happen from being too relaxed about giving out your personal information over a dating site or app, many people do try to hold back on what they say about themselves. This can be counter-productive, however, when you are trying to meet someone online, so how long does it take before online daters start giving out personal information.
The general statistics from Kaspersky found that there was broadly a fairly balanced approach to how long divulging details take. For some, it takes more than several months, yet for others, it takes just minutes or hours. More specifically, 19% of both female users and male users that have ever used a dating site or app say that it takes more than several months for them to give out information. Breaking down these online statistics further, a quarter of all female users take more than several months to give out information.
Yet 13% of the same group of online daters say that they have given out some sensitive information in just minutes. Within that group, it is the male users who are more likely to give out information, with 16% of them admitting to telling someone important information about themselves quickly.
How Many People Lie On Their Profile?
Arguably, a big bugbear about the statistics behind online dating is the lying that takes place on someone’s profile. But in this day and age, where we all use online dating far more and it is so much more accepted by our culture, how many users lie on their profile?
Looking at the statistics, the biggest proportion of users that lie on their profile tend to be those in their late 30s to mid-40s. Of that group, the ones most likely to lie are male. They say that they do this for fun, though it is not clear what they lie about to get their kicks from.
Other interesting statistics are that younger women or men, in the 16 -24 age group are likely to lie on their profile to protect themselves. It is female users in this group particularly that are most prone to do this.
Finally, one very interesting set of online statistics comes from those that want to use online dating as a way to meet people, but they lie as they are afraid that they will be recognized by others that they know already. Given the growing acceptance of online dating and the increased usage and success that it breeds in relationships, it is a little surprising that 15% of male and female users asked in the Kaspersky dating online statistics study, claim that they lie so they are not spotted by friends. Plus, broadly speaking, this is a reason that is common across all age groups and both genders. Younger women are just as likely as older men to lie on their profile to stop themselves from being recognized by friends or acquaintances.
How Many Get Replied To?
Finding out the statistics behind how many messages or online dating profiles get responded to is a tricky business because online dating websites don’t want to inadvertently promote the failure rate of their sites. While they can be very successful, a lot of people still have to go through a lot of rejections or radio silence from people they message.
Bearing this lack of statistics in mind, it is good to take a more qualitative approach to improve your hit rate if you are struggling to make a match. Ensure that you are actually messaging people that say they are into someone with your character or physical traits. If you message someone who has specifically said that they want their prospective men or women partners to be a certain age or height, then you can’t expect to have a reply from them if you are not within these parameters.
It is, therefore, recommended that if you use online dating, wherever you are in the world to be as honest as possible. If you like someone, you would be crushed to find out that they were not who they say they were after you continued to contact them. You, therefore, need to have a similar approach to the men and women you contact when you use online dating as a means to meet people. That respect for their wants will go a long way.
Negative Interactions On Online Dating
There are a couple of categories of downsides to online dating. The obvious is that the relationship started after using an online dating site is not what they wanted it to be. By far, women are the biggest of the online dating statistics that have found themselves to be on the receiving end of negative behavior, like being contacted continually after asking not to be.
According to the statistics, some have even been subjected to being sent sexually explicit texts or images when they were not asked for. Sadly, a large portion has been called offensive names and just over 10% have been threatened physically.
That is not to say that only female online daters say they have experienced this type of behavior. A large percentage of male users found in our statistics say that they have been subjected to the same sorts of actions from the users they have interacted with.
While this seems to be a huge downside to online dating, it is possible to argue that this would happen in the realms of dating that started in more traditional routes too. Bearing that in mind, it is important to also be aware of a downside to online dating that cannot occur when meeting potential partners in more traditional ways.
Being the victim of identity theft is a huge problem with online dating, and online dating statistics have shown that the technical or data leak problems that have come about due to the use of online dating are substantial.
For example, 12% of people who don’t use online dating have been infected with a virus online or with malware. This increases to a massive 29% when someone has continued to contact dates through an online dating site or app. These statistics are quite stark.
Another large increase can be seen when users are asked to share private or sensitive details. 13% of people who have online dated share such details, while only 3% who have never used a dating site have suffered the same mishap.
Downsides Of Online Dating
There are a number of downsides to the use of online dating – a few of which we have mentioned here already which a number of statistics and studies have emphasized. One of the biggest downsides is when you meet someone who has different intentions to you for the results they want to see from using dating websites and apps. This can mean that you may want to meet men or women that want just sex after they contact a person they have met online, while you were actually signing up to a site’s service to start relationships.
Other downsides include meeting someone who is not who they say they are. This lying can have small or large ramifications. It could be that the men or women you have been messaging are simply lying about their height or true hair color. However, it could also be that the men or women you are messaging are wrongful intentions behind meeting others online. They may be using websites as a means to find their victims for their sex crimes or other physical abuse, or they may be trying to meet others who are vulnerable so that their financial status can be taken advantage of.
Finally, sadly the statistics show that being a victim of online crime is also a possibility when you use online dating as a means to meet other men or women. The reason being is that you are more likely to divulge sensitive information to a person you believe you can trust. Online criminals around the world sometimes use online dating websites as a way to build up that trust with naive members of the public. Their tactics can be very underhand and sophisticated so that some do not even notice that they are providing the person at the other end of the internet connection with sensitive data.
Plus many statistics show that too many of us are guilty of not using strict or stringent enough security measures while we are online. This means protecting our devices with passwords and ensuring that our accounts in whatever apps or dating websites we use are protected with strong passwords too. Importantly these passwords all need to be different and it also helps if we all use antivirus software to protect against any infections that hackers may spread through dating websites or apps.
Success Rate In Online Dating (Ended Up Together)
Many members of the public who are considering online dating will be interested in the statistics of the success rate in online dating. In a study conducted by Statista, it was found that 17% of online daters have ended up in a long term relationship after meeting someone online. Additionally, it was found that almost a third of all asked knew someone who had met their partner online.
However, 40% of those asked in this statistics study asked said that they did not know anyone who had successfully met a partner through a dating site or app. Realistically, this means that this is fairly evenly balanced or distributed in the investigation’s findings. While potential online daters may have wanted better-looking statistics, it may be a good idea to bear in mind what the answers would have been if the question had asked if people knew any men or women who had ended up in a long term relationship established via more traditional means. It is important to bear in mind that not every couple stands the test of time when they meet in a bar, through friends or at college.
Do The Compatibility Algorithms Work?
It is hard to answer whether compatibility algorithms really work as there are too many variables to create a scenario where there is a fair test involved. The reality of the situation behind online dating is that, as it increases your chances of dating at all, you are more likely to hook up with someone – arguably that could be the algorithm working or simply your increased dating that has helped.
How Do People Protect Themselves When Dating Online?
Perhaps one of the less thought about online dating statistics is how to stay safe while dating online. Yet, it is incredibly important for us all to do this so that when we meet someone, we know we are going to meet someone who has been telling us the truth. While some people may tell the odd white lie about their height or other parts of their appearance, some people lie about their true intentions of being on a dating site in the first place. Their intentions may not be honorable, and it is those users that you have to protect yourself against.
To ensure that they stay safe online, there are a number of practices that both male users and female users can and do use. A large portion of men and women search their potential partner’s name online as well as looking at their social media profiles to ensure they are who they say they are. Worryingly, however, almost a quarter of all users do nothing at all to ensure that they are safe when they use online dating.
The above actions tend to be ones that you can carry out when you have met a match online. However, if you have ever used a dating site, there are a number of things you can do to maintain your online security too. This means that you do not leave yourself vulnerable to being the victim of online fraud by hackers or online criminals that take advantage of learning about sensitive information through dating profiles.
Bearing this in mind, over a third of all users, employ the use of strong passwords while online and about a third also share very limited information over an internet connection. Ensuring that antivirus software is installed on their handheld devices and computers is also a popular option as well as making sure that apps do not have full access to contacts and social media accounts. This is so that online criminals cannot get access to your sensitive information over an internet connection and get hold of your sensitive data to help them commit identity theft.
Dating VS Online Dating
Ultimately, a lot of us who are tempted to start online dating don’t sign up as we are unsure as to whether it is successful. eHarmony, one of the first online dating sites, conducted studies to find out where couples meet.
They found that a fifth of all couples now meet through online dating. While the majority of couples meet through a friend given that over half of all relationships start in this way, it is still a large portion of all relationships that start due to an online dating experience.
Why Do People Prefer Online Dating?
There are many reasons that people prefer online dating than relying on friends to set them up with a potential partner or simply meeting in a bar or club. Many users say that many online websites and apps simply connect them with other single people in a far more efficient process than leaving it to find a mate down more traditional routes.
It possibly can improve the chances of success too. This is thanks to more and more niche sites and apps connecting more like-minded people and finding more like-minded people too. While meetings through friends can increase your chances of meeting people like you, a website can do this in a far quicker and more efficient way. It has huge databases of potential partners that have already admitted to having similar likes to yours.
Do You Save By Dating Online?
Arguably, there are two elements of your life where you will save by using websites to meet others for relationships. You can save time and money by meeting other guys or women through an internet connection on a specialized website because you are meant to be increasing your chances of meeting others with the same intentions in mind.
FAQs
Online dating is now incredibly common. According to the statistics, in the US for example, around 30% of the population have used a website to meet other people online.
It can be hard to put exact numbers and statistics on which dating site has the highest success rate as dating websites around the world are likely to try to skew the statistics and underlying data when asked. However, if you are choosing websites purely on their success rate, it is beneficial to either choose a very popular one so as to increase your chances of meeting anyone – or to use one that has a niche that interests you. Again this will increase your success rate of finding someone to love.
The statistics behind the success rate of online dating around vary slightly according to the studies you look at. Plus, some studies can be skewed by what type of users are asked and what those users say about their experiences. However, it is fair to say that online dating can at least increase your chances of dating men or women in the first instance, and so the likelihood of meeting someone you may start a serious partnership with is therefore increased.
That being said, in some studies, it has been shown that around half the US population knows at least someone who is in a couple thanks to meeting their significant other online.
According to a Stanford sociologist, meeting a person through the means of the internet is the most popular method of meeting someone romantically around the world. Within the US, the same investigation found that it was how most heterosexual partnerships started.
Source link: hernorm.com