Swipe right: The new normal for dating?
A lot of people have been trying to find love by swiping right. Will it become the norm during COVID-19?
In Brief
- The global online dating services market was valued at US$6.4 billion in 2017.
- The coronavirus pandemic has seen people turning to their phones to keep up their dating lives.
- With uncertainty about when the coronavirus emergency will end, digital dating may become the norm.
Compiled by Amity Delaney
A lot of people are trying to find love by swiping right. The global online dating services market was valued at US$6.4 billion in 2017 and is projected to reach US$9.2 billion by 2025, according to an Allied Market Research report.
In 2019, the ABC’s National Survey, with 54,970 respondents, found that since 2010 more Australians have met their partners online than through friends and work combined. There’s now an even greater appetite for online dating with the social restrictions brought in to combat coronavirus. Will dating as we know it – where people meet, shake hands and share saliva – die with COVID-19?
Sources: Online Dating Services Market Outlook – 2025, Allied Market Research; ABC’s Australia Talks National Survey 2019
Online now the most popular way to meet a partner
Online dating by gender
Online dating by age
The coronavirus effect
The coronavirus pandemic and consequent physical distancing has put the kibosh on social gatherings for the moment, so some singletons are turning to their phones to keep up their dating lives.
But love in the time of COVID-19 is a chaste affair – at least officially. If people do meet face-to-face (perhaps on a pre-planned toilet paper hunt), dating apps such as Bumble and Tinder are advising them to maintain distancing and wash their hands.
With limited options for getting together physically, some dating app users are opting for strictly digital communications such as texting, video chatting and phone calls. With uncertainty about when the coronavirus emergency will end, such digital dating may become the norm.
Sources: “Searching for love in the time of coronavirus”, edition.cnn.com, 19 Mar 2020; “I might keep my hands to myself: Love (and sex) in the time of corona”, smh.com.au, 22 Mar 2020.
Top 9 countries using dating apps Share of population accessing online dating in 2019
| China | 19% |
| United States | 17% |
| Canada | 14% |
| United Kingdom |
12% |
| Spain |
11% |
| Germany | 10% |
| France |
8% |
| Italy |
7% |
| Austria |
6% |
Source: “9 countries using online dating the most”, benzinga.com, 30 January 2020.
Top 10 most popular dating apps on Android worldwide
- Tinder
- Badoo
- happn
- MeetMe
- OkCupid
- Bumble
- Plenty of Fish
- Grindr
- Match.com
- SCRUFF
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