My team and I scoured the internet in search of all the online dating statistics available, we then curated them into the most interesting and easily digestible fact list, this process took 2 weeks. Below you can find our infographic where we displayed the statistics in tables and graphs to help display the data in a way that is easily consumed.
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<a href="https://reclaimtheinternet.com/online-dating-statistics/"><img src="https://reclaimtheinternet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/reclaimtheinternetcom-study31.png" alt="online dating statistics from www.reclaimtheinternet.com"/></a>
Some interesting stats that didn't make the cut include:
- 53% of people lie on their online dating profiles.
- 48% of online relationships end through email.
- A study from 2005 showed 25% of rapists used online dating in an attempt to find victims.
- In 2011 alone, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center lodged 5,600 complaints from victims of “romance scammers”. The collective victims losses amassed to over fifty million dollars. However, it’s suspected that the real number is much higher because embarrassment deters people from coming forward.
- 30% of women online daters said they received too many messages, only 6% of men said the same.
Our takeaway after studying the data:
Online dating is one hell of an industry, it has been around since 1994 (kiss.com was launched) and it has evolved at the same pace as the rest of the internet. We can divide the industry in two segments: In one category, there are online dating platforms where you build a profile (after verification) and then find potential partners with similar interests and gradually build a relationship. In the other category we have fast-to-sign-up apps where you are instantly served people in your area and you can quickly swipe yes or no. These apps are built for rapid decision making and the users are encouraged to make these decisions primarily based on the profile photo of the user served.
I believe the first category of dating platform plays a positive role in society and as for the second type, I have yet to see data that convinces me they are a force for good. They see a larger amount of spammers, robot accounts (designed to promote other services) and cat fishing, due to the ease of sign up and lack of verification. Most of the negative statistics you read above come from these apps because the instant nature of these apps attract a lot of people set on coercion. I don't want to be to negative about them, if you can navigate around these accounts then it's probably a positive experience. But if you want to find cat fishers, criminals and romance scammers then quick swiping apps is the place to go.
Regardless of my opinion, online dating is here and it's here to stay. We can see from the stats that the younger generations are embracing it so it is undoubtedly set to grow in popularity. Currently swiping apps like Tinder and Bumble have the largest audience size, whether that trend continues or not remains to be seen, but it's likely that innovation will continue in the online dating space and a new dating concept will be born from a tech startup and will capture the attention of the new generation.
The trend of increasing numbers of committed relationships beginning online will continue to grow as technology keeps improving and people spend more time online, so it makes sense that more relationships will be born online. I believe the innovation on matching algorithms will be interesting over the next decade or two.
The most important thing that I want to see happen is more emphasis on security. As technology evolves and this industry attracts more money,' its crucial that the big players invest funds in security to ensure the safety of their users. We have already seen the horror stories of what can happen when people are not careful when meeting people online.