Statistics

Image: eharmony

eHarmony has released the dating trends it expects to see in 2024, based on its extensive annual survey of users, including new perspectives on what it means to date someone who’s “out of your league.”

The study also reveals changing attitudes about asking dates how many people they’ve slept with, and shares the biggest love life regrets of users and how they can impact dating habits going into the new year.

According to eHarmony’s press release (local copy), different generations have different perspectives on what “out of your league” means. Among Gen Z daters, 68 percent define it in terms of physical attractiveness, 43 percent professional success, and 42 percent financial stability. However, when it comes to what they look for and value in a partner, the top quality is emotional intelligence (28%) followed by humor (23%) and intelligence (16%).

Image: Hinge

Hinge is launching a million-dollar social impact fund called One More Hour to help encourage people to meet in real life in response to the loneliness epidemic. The fund will offer $10,000 to $25,000 grants to 501(c)3 groups in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and New York to develop “fresh, free/low-cost and recurring in-person connection opportunities” for young adults, according to Fast Company.

The idea is to get people engaging more with each other in real life and not just online. The program is intended to fund events that will be organized and ongoing, so that people will feel more encouraged to show up and see what happens.

Hinge’s social impact director Josh Penny told Fast Company that social clubs stand out as a way to combat the loneliness epidemic because of “their welcoming, low-pressure nature.” He adds that telling people to hang out in person doesn’t necessarily work, that you need to offer the structure and support to encourage people to do it.

Image: Bumble

Dating app Bumble conducted a new study to understand what daters are seeking in 2024 and discovered some interesting results, including that they are more open to dating someone older or younger. Also, a majority of daters are trying to be happy with where they are now instead of constantly trying to improve themselves.

According to Mashable, Bumble found that for 63 percent of respondents, age doesn’t matter, including 59 percent of women who say they are more open to dating younger men. About 35 percent of women say they’ve become less judgmental of age gaps in relationships.

There has also been a trend in recent years, especially among younger daters, to prioritize mental health and take steps to “better” oneself - and expect the same from their dates. A key difference now, according to Mashable, is that a majority of daters – 68 percent - are trying to be happy with who they are now.

Image: Bumble

Dating app Bumble is distributing campus safety kits to college students to help them date more safely on college campuses.

The Austin-based dating app company will distribute hundreds of drink spike prevention products from NightCap, along with safety alarms from She’s Birdie, to students at the University of Texas in Austin as well as 160 other campuses around the country, according to Axios.

The drink spike prevention product looks like a hair scrunchie according to Axios, and can fit over the top of a glass to cover it, leaving room for only a straw. Another selling point is that women can wear them in their hair or around their wrists until they need them, making them easy to carry and use.

Image: Hinge

Dating app Hinge wants people to connect with their dates instead of scrolling their phones, and so it has launched a new guide to help curb dating distraction.

According to Mashable, a whopping 78 percent of Hinge users say that they believe their date isn’t interested in them if they look at their phones during the date (even though a lot of dating app users admit to doing this themselves). Seventy-five percent say they are more hesitant to open up to a date when they are on their phone.

Hinge’s new Distraction Free Dating Guide was created by Logan Ury, Hinge’s director of relationship science, and Moe Ari Brown, the company’s love and connection expert, in collaboration with the Foundation for Social Connection.

Millennials and Gen Z singles are spending more money on dating, with some going into “dating debt,” where they are spending money on grooming, dinners out, gifts, and other related romantic expenses.

According to a new study by Lending Tree, 22 percent of millennials and 19 percent of Gen Z singles have begun to incur “dating debt.”

And another study by Credit Karma found that among daters aged 18-34, 29 percent said they’ve gone into debt for dating, including 21 percent who’ve said that debt exceeded $500 in one year. Twenty-nine percent admitted they had overspent in an attempt to impress their dates, while 19 percent said they did it to “seek intimacy.”