The State of Online Dating 2026
Online Dating & Dating App Statistics United Kingdom vs. the World 2026
How many singles search online, what are they looking for, and how do countries compare? This page turns every answer from our dating recommendation quiz into live, quotable statistics — updated monthly.
Updated October 2026 · N = 50,497 · collected across 18 country editions
What are singles looking for?
Relationship goals of respondents in this country. Filter by gender and age, the differences are bigger than you might think.
View as table
| Answer | % | N |
|---|---|---|
| ❤️ Long-term relationships | 39.8% | 1 |
| 🔥 Casual relationships | 22.8% | 2 |
| 💋 Flirting and fun dates | 10.8% | 3 |
| 👀 Exploring my options | 13.5% | 4 |
| 🔄 Swinging & Open Relationships | 4.7% | 5 |
| 🖤 BDSM & Fetish dating | 3.9% | 6 |
| 💎 Sugar Dating | 4.4% | 7 |
| 💞 Polyamorous relationships | 0.2% | 8 |
Who is dating online?
Gender and age of everyone who took the quiz.
By generation
| Gen Z | 19.8% | 1 |
| Millennials | 31.6% | 2 |
| Gen X | 35.4% | 3 |
| Baby Boomers | 13.2% | 4 |
Relationship status
Not everyone searching is single.
Beyond mainstream dating
Sugar dating, swinging & open relationships, BDSM & fetish, polyamory, the share of respondents naming each as their goal.
Country vs. country
The same questions, asked in every country edition, compare any two markets, or sort the full table.
| Country | N | Long-term | Casual | Women | Avg. age | Not single |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 19,668 | 39.2% | 20.8% | 30.8% | 39.7 | 21.8% |
| Germany | 9,927 | 44.5% | 23.8% | 24.2% | 46.1 | 31% |
| United Kingdom | 6,645 | 39.8% | 22.8% | 27.8% | 44.6 | 25.8% |
| Spain | 3,840 | 36.9% | 38.6% | 19.5% | 42.6 | 23% |
| Austria | 2,141 | 46.8% | 24.3% | 25% | 45.5 | 28.6% |
| Australia | 1,620 | 34.7% | 28.3% | 23% | 45.6 | 27.7% |
| Switzerland | 1,601 | 46% | 24.2% | 26.4% | 46.8 | 33.9% |
| New Zealand | 1,049 | 41.7% | 18.6% | 31.2% | 44.3 | 22.8% |
| Italy | 620 | 33% | 31.4% | 23.2% | 46.9 | 37.3% |
| Singapore | 612 | 31.2% | 23.4% | 26.6% | 36 | 30.3% |
| Sweden | 551 | 59.3% | 15.7% | 42% | 49.1 | 19% |
| Hong Kong SAR China | 521 | 35.1% | 21% | 24.8% | 37.4 | 25.4% |
| Netherlands | 390 | 36.2% | 18.3% | 21.1% | 47.7 | 29.4% |
| Denmark | 378 | 63.9% | 20.1% | 41% | 49.7 | 19.1% |
| Hungary | 328 | 70.7% | 17.2% | 47% | 46 | 17% |
| Finland | 238 | 51.8% | 23.1% | 24.4% | 47.5 | 18.4% |
| Brazil | 145 | 54% | 23.9% | 46.2% | 43.6 | 17.4% |
| France | 138 | 46.4% | 34.8% | 30.4% | 40.6 | 14.5% |
What they want in a partner
The traits respondents picked most (multiple answers allowed, all countries).
What rules someone out
Share of respondents naming each deal-breaker (several answers possible), men and women side by side.
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Children: have them, want them?
Whether respondents have children and whether they want (more).
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Online dating track record
How many people respondents have met in person through online dating, and how often a relationship came out of it.
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Hot topics: what singles would accept
Each of these questions is shown to a random part of the participants at the end of the quiz, so the number of answers is stated per question.
Would you date someone who earns much less than you?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
How tall should your partner be at least?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
And how tall are you?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Would you date someone who publishes erotic content on OnlyFans?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Would you date someone who cheated in a previous relationship?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Would you date someone with completely different political views?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Would you date someone who is currently unemployed?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Could you imagine an open relationship?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Would you date someone who smokes regularly?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Does it matter to you how many people your partner has slept with?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Who should pay on the first date?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Would you date someone who uses AI to write their dating messages?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Would you date someone who has children from a previous relationship?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
How much older or younger may your partner be?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Do you want to get married one day?
Not enough answers yet, this question is new in the quiz. The chart appears at 100 answers.
Who the respondents are
Education, work, income and ethnicity across all countries.
View as table
| 📜 College Graduate/Bachelor’s Degree | 25.9% | 1 |
| 🎓 Postgraduate (Master’s or PhD) | 18.9% | 2 |
| 🚌 High School Graduate | 17.6% | 3 |
| 📘 Some College | 14.5% | 4 |
| 🔧 Vocational/Technical Training | 14.5% | 5 |
| ❓ Other | 8.6% | 6 |
View as table
| 💼 Full-time Employee | 54.7% | 1 |
| 🕒 Part-time Employee | 12.8% | 2 |
| 🔍 Unemployed | 11.4% | 3 |
| 💡 Entrepreneur | 10.7% | 4 |
| 📱 Freelancer | 10.3% | 5 |
| 👤 Single | 0% | 6 |
| 🤷 It’s Complicated | 0% | 7 |
View as table
| 💸 Less than $25k/year | 87.7% | 1 |
| 💵 $25k-$50k/year | 0.4% | 2 |
| 💰 $50k-$100k/year | 0.4% | 3 |
| 💼 $100k-$200k/year | 0.1% | 4 |
| 🏦 $200k-$500k/year | 0.1% | 5 |
| 💎 $500k-$1M/year | 0% | 6 |
| 👑 More than $1M/year | 11.3% | 7 |
View as table
| 🖐🏻 White | 78.6% | 1 |
| 🖐🏼 Asian | 5.6% | 2 |
| 🖐 Mixed/Other | 5.3% | 3 |
| 🖐🏿 Black | 3.4% | 4 |
| 🖐🏽 Latin | 3.3% | 5 |
| 🖐🏾 Indian | 2.7% | 6 |
| 🖐🏽 Arabic | 1.1% | 7 |
| 🚶♀️ Slim build | 0% | 8 |
Dating app statistics: how singles use dating sites & apps
Time budgets, preferred ways to connect and what singles expect from a dating app or site (all countries).
View as table
| ⌛ I can spend a few hours a week | 48.5% | 1 |
| 🕰️ I have plenty of time to dedicate | 36.1% | 2 |
| ⏳ I have limited time | 15.5% | 3 |
| 🖐🏻 White | 0% | 4 |
View as table
| 💬 Text messages | 40.4% | 1 |
| ✨ Doesn’t matter | 31.6% | 2 |
| 🤝 In-person meetups | 19.8% | 3 |
| 🎥 Video calls | 5.9% | 4 |
| 📞 Voice calls | 2.1% | 5 |
| ✨ Doesn’t matter | 0.2% | 6 |
View as table
| 📺 Free with ads | 46.5% | 1 |
| 💰 Affordable options | 34.5% | 2 |
| 💎 Premium features | 19% | 3 |
| 🤝 Members who are serious and respectful | 0% | 4 |
Responses over time
Completed quiz sessions per month since the survey started.
Methodology
Datingscout UK (2026). The State of Online Dating 2026: Online Dating & Dating App Statistics United Kingdom vs. the World 2026. Retrieved from https://www.datingscout.co.uk/online-dating-statistics