RELEVANT MAGAZINE – A 2024 report from the Survey Center on American Life found 44% of Gen Z men reported no relationship experience at all during adolescence. Pew has also found that among never-married single adults under 40, ~42% say they’ve never been in a committed romantic relationship. Debra Fileta, a licensed professional counselor and relationship expert, says part of the problem is that modern dating has trained people to think about relationships less like connection and more like shopping. “The focus is so much on what I can get rather than who am I standing alone? How healthy am I standing alone?,” she says. Debra recommends building a strong and honest community, focusing on emotional and mental health, considering therapy, developing self-awareness, using journaling, and addressing unhealthy patterns.
JPOST – A University of New Hampshire study published in the Journal of Sex Research found that 97% of single adults aged 60-83 consider sexual intimacy essential in a relationship, and 72% would not pursue a partner if sex is not part of the relationship. The study interviewed 100 online daters (50 women and 50 men) and found that participants were seeking both companionship and passion, often adapting to physical changes through medical support or redefining intimacy. Broader data shows more than half of Americans aged 65-74 remain sexually active, while over a quarter of those aged 75-85 report the same, challenging the perception that older adults are uninterested in sex.
BARCLAYS – 56% of Gen Z singles are prioritizing meeting a partner in-person as romance scams become more sophisticated. 66% of UK adults say AI tools are making online dating scams more difficult to detect, with 53% concerned about voice or image impersonation. Barclays claims data shows victims of romance scams lost £7k each on average in 2025, and 67% originated on dating sites and social media platforms.
Kirsty Adams, Fraud & Scams Expert at Barclays, shares her SAFE guidelines: S – Stay on the platform A – Ask someone you trust if something doesn’t feel right F – Flag money requests E – Exit safely and report if you have been asked for money or if something feels wrong
BUSINESS RECRUITMENT – Dating app usage in the UK has fallen 16% since 2024 due to app fatigue, but investor interest is shifting toward female-led dating companies, especially matchmaking services. Women run ~90% of personalized agencies and are increasingly entering app leadership roles, focusing on safety, emotional intelligence, and relationship outcomes rather than engagement mechanics. These platforms produce fewer initial meetings than large swipe apps but achieve higher rates of long-term relationships. The UK market has ~1.3M users across ~1,400 services worth £422M and is growing 8% annually, with global dating projected to exceed £13B by 2030. Industry figures argue that the future model combines human matchmaking supported by AI rather than AI-only systems.
ITBRIEF – A UK poll of 2K dating-app users found 84% say AI-generated content now makes dating harder to trust (up from 64% in 2025). While 32% use AI to help write messages, 36% have tried AI companions instead of dating apps. Identity fraud and deepfakes are the main drivers: 61% encountered fake profiles and the sector shows high fraud rates (6.35%), with romance scams costing over £100m annually. Users are responding by self-verifying matches, while demanding clearer rules and stronger platform accountability rather than outright bans on AI tools.
SECURITYBRIEF – Nearly half of New Zealand online daters would consider dating an AI, according to Norton, with 48% open to AI relationships and 25% believing romantic feelings toward AI are possible. Many daters already use AI for emotional support, profile writing, flirting practice, and dating advice, sometimes trusting AI more than friends or family, even as most say they are uncomfortable when others use AI to alter photos or messages.
We’ve updated the rankings using the latest January 2026 U.S. data from Data.ai. Tinder remains the top-grossing dating app across both the App Store and Google Play. Bumble has slid to #3, with Hinge now ranking #2. Other leading apps, including Grindr, Yubo, Taimi, Raya, and Feeld, continue to place across the dating and social networking categories.
BUSINESS INSIDER – Gen Z dating is increasingly driven by financial stability and long-term planning, according to Quincy Yang, CEO of Coffee Meets Bagel. Yang says rising housing and living costs have made the traditional American dream unaffordable without dual incomes, pushing young adults to seek committed, financially stable partners rather than casual hookups. Data from Coffee Meets Bagel’s survey of US users aged 21–35 shows 54% prioritize financial stability and nearly 60% value ambition, reflecting a pragmatic shift toward relationships that support economic security and shared life goals.
CHOZUN BIZ – Tinder released data on Jan. 2 showing that early January is consistently the busiest period for dating apps, based on user activity from Jan. 1 to Feb. 14 last year. On “Dating Sunday” (Jan. 5), swipes increased ~13% above the annual average, messages and likes rose by ~10%, and matches reached 380 per second, ~10% higher than normal, while response times sped up by over two hours. Across the full peak season, daily messages averaged 10M more than usual and likes increased by 40M, reflecting heightened demand for new relationships at the start of the year.
THE ECONOMIST – Across America, 41% of women and 50% of men age 25-34 were single in 2023, double over the past 5 decades. From 2010-2022 people living alone rose in 26 of 30 OECD countries. In Europe, each new generation is less likely to be married. The relationship recession is also hitting those looking for a date or casual sex. Younger people are socializing less, dating less, and starting to have sex later in life and having less sex in general (as are most of us). More people feel able to choose to be single now than in the past, when there was far greater social and economic pressure to marry, a great emancipation of the past half-century. In a Pew survey, 62% of single women did not want to date, whereas only 37% of single men felt the same way. A high proportion of unmarried young men is strongly associated with elevated levels of violence and crime. There is some sort of dating-market failure, and society is changing in ways that are making large numbers of singles incompatible.
In Asia, singlehood is growing fastest, especially poor men and highly educated women. New technology fosters pickiness and absorbs time, leaving less for socializing. Time spent streaming, surfing, or gaming even seems to be displacing sex. Brits aged 18-44, have gone from copulating 5x per month in 1990 to 2x a month in 2021.
Mark Brooks: The Economist tells it like it is. Where do we go from here? The mind always drifts to what is more interesting, and nothing is more interesting than your mobile phone, social media, Netflix, etc. Next up: by 2030, your best friend will be an AI. Then, what need will we really have for each other? (rhetorical / sarcastic / worried ! ). Unless we solve ‘the continuity problem’ in online dating in the more distant future (i.e. 2050), governments will step in and make dating/matchmaking an essential public utility. Sounds crazy, but it is a logical solution if private dating/matchmaking companies don’t evolve. People need us, but our incentive base is broken. Justin at Hinge is doing the right thing by developing Overtone. Also, Sync appears to be doing similar to solve the continuity problem, which will then allow is to move into the BIG phase of growth for online dating.
