Dating today - How people have met their partners

By: Asa Montreaux

 In an ever-evolving world, new wrinkles change the existing web work of relationships between things. We may think we know the status quo, but if we look at the way things are as a whole - it is constantly evolving and changing.

Before you start wondering how you are going to make your relationship work, you should find yourself wondering how on earth am I going to find someone to be in a relationship with? In an increasingly internet-based, and alienating landscape of not only dating, but human relationships in general, what do people do to find love and connection? If I were to open a magazine like Cosmopolitan, like no one had ever, perhaps since the 2000s, what advice would I find?

Well I will attempt to answer that question here. To what extent should you rely on dating apps, or online dating? I will attempt to answer this question as well.

A study by YouGov of over 1,000 different US individuals each quarter, over the last five years, has found significant change in the make-up of dating over time, though there has been some consistencies which seem to indicate the overarching, and strong, norms/ways of our society.

Among 18-30 years old's, in 2020 dating apps made up 7 percent of all new relationships. Interestingly, that number has fallen to 5 percent in 2025.

You may think that Tinder, Bumble, are mainstays of dating culture in today's world. The data shows that is not the case. You may find yourself ready to say that, many of your friends met their partner on a dating app, in fact most of them obviously had. That is not true, Most people do not meet through dating apps. At most dating apps have established themselves as a way by which people can alternatively meet someone. It is not, even today, the tried and true method for meeting someone. In 2020, when dating apps where relatively new, they were thought to be a legitimate way that someone could meet someone. Over the years, negative reviews of these, incidents involving users personal safety, as well as a cooling off of interest, has led them to remain that stable alternative way to meet someone, but with no way to become more than that in the society.

Among individuals that are more technologically savvy, though not the most common customer of Tinder, Hinge, etc., the 30-44 year old group, similar numbers are to be found. 5 percent of couples 30-44 met through dating apps in 2020. In 2025, 6 percent of couples met this way., down from a peak of 7 percent in early 2024.

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And what percentage of individuals met their partners online, but not through dating apps? Interestingly, just 3 percent of individuals aged 18-30 met someone in this way in 2020. This suggests that paying money, and dating in a more desperate, and unconfident wat, did not suit the age group. In fact, the percentage of individuals that met online decreased each quarter, until final 0 percent of people 18-30 met online!

What is the meaning of this? Go out! Network! Those are, by far, the best ways to meet someone nowadays. They are, not coincidentally, the traditional ways of meeting someone in a free and democratic society. One of the most interesting things about the data set, is that the number of people who met through mutual friends, or school, is the same in 2025 as it was in 2020! 15 percent of people met through mutual friends, and 15 percent met through school, in both years. So even the younger groups of 18-30 year old's have consistently found connection in the sawm ways, through their new and existing social relationships.

In fact, 11 percent of people 30-44 met through mutual friends in 2020, and that number rose to 17 percent in 2025. More people met through school in this age group in 2025 than 2020, and another 11 percent of people found love through work. So networking, the standard groups of one's social life, are the most normal ways to meet someone. Probably, these are also the best ways to meet someone. If I were cosmopolitan, or I suppose GQ, I would say try very hard to get to know the people around you, at school, at work, at any parties you go to, and that will be the best way to meet more potential partners, and to find one that you like.

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