What does the dating scene look like for singles over 50 this year? If you’re a mature single and want to start dating successfully, you’ll find abundant opportunity online. There are also numerous dating resources to help you on your journey.
We’ve compiled statistics below to help single men and women over fifty get a picture of what it’s like to navigate online dating today.
Here’s a table of contents for your reference. Click on any link to jump to that section or simply scroll down.
Statistics About Dating for Single Men and Women Over 50
How Many Singles Over 50 Are There?
How Many Dating Apps and Sites Are There?
Which Dating Apps are Most Popular?
How Successful is Online Dating?
What Profile Information Is Important to Online Daters?
Statistics on How Covid Affected Online Dating
Online Dating Safety for Men and Women Over 50
Comparison of Dating Sites – How Do I Find the Best Dating Apps and Sites?
Final Thoughts on Dating Apps for Mature Singles
Mature Dating Resources List
How Many Singles Over 50 Are There?
As of Aug. 2020, Pew Research’s profile of single US adults breaks down like this:
- 31% of all US adults including men and women 18+ are single
- For men in the 50-64 age group, 27% are single
- For men in the 65+ group, 21% are single
- For women in the 50-64 age group, 29% are single
- For women in the 65+ group, 49% are single
The numbers indicate there is no shortage of opportunity for dating in any age group.
Despite the large pool of available singles, 75% of daters say they find it somewhat difficult to very difficult to find people to date. Only 25% say it’s easy.
Daisy and I believe that the reason for this is that most people don’t have a method for how to date.
For example, when I first re-entered the dating world, my first inclination was to date like I was in my teens or twenties. Just do it. Start asking women on dates and leave it to chance that I’d find someone compatible.
But I knew from many years’ experience in business that I would never go aimlessly in search of clients. That kind of system only results in terrible customers.
No. I had a method for finding clients who were the right fit for our company and vice versa. The same applies to dating.
And up until I met Daisy, my naive approach to dating had failed me, resulting in a series of failed relationships. It was those failures that compelled me to figure out what I was doing wrong and to start doing something right.
Daisy talks about this more in the free ebook, The Secret to Mature Dating Success – A Guide for Men and Women Over 60 Searching for True Love.
How Many Dating Apps and Sites Are There?
It’s tough to find accurate numbers, but Dating Sites Reviews estimates that as of 2019 there are about 2,000 online dating services in North America and 8,000 worldwide.
One reason it’s so hard to track the number of dating sites and apps is that this type of business fails fast. It’s a hot but oversaturated market in which newcomers without major funding don’t have much chance of survival.
Which Dating Apps are Most Popular?
There are 270 million users of dating apps around the world, as of 2020.
The top apps in the US, ranked by number of monthly active users:
- Tinder at 7.8 million
- Bumble at 5.0 million
- Plenty of Fish at 4.2 million
- Match.com at 1.9 million
- OK Cupid at 1.7 million
- Grindr at 1.6 million
The top app in the world as of 2020 is Badoo, with an estimated 28 million monthly active users. The service is popular around the world but not so much in the US.
Although not on the list, our readers’ (daters over 60) favorite dating site is eharmony.com.
How Successful is Online Dating?
Online dating works. As with everything else in life, getting good results requires proactive effort. You get out of it what you put into it.
- 12% of US adults say they have been in a committed relationship or married someone they met through a dating app.
- In the LGBTQ community about 21% say they’ve found a committed partnership.
- 57% of US adults say they’ve had an overall positive experience with online dating platforms.
- 40% say their experience was somewhat negative. 45% say it left them feeling more frustrated than hopeful.
- 77% went on a date with someone they met on an app or site.
During the pandemic, virtual dating became popular. Virtual dating is when the couple spends time together via an online platform such as Zoom or Facetime. Since then, most of the popular dating sites have added virtual dating features to their platforms.
According to a recent survey from OK Cupid, virtual daters found benefits to virtual dating as a prelude to in-person dating.
- 38% – feel less pressure
- 37% – say it’s a good way to get to know the other person better
- 25% – like that they get to wear whatever they want
Source: Pew Research Facts About Americans and Online Dating
What Profile Information is Important to Online Daters?
What do online daters consider “very important” information in a profile they are viewing?
Here is how the answers in the Pew Research study ranked, in order of importance.
- Photos of themselves (74% of women vs. 68% of men)
- Type of relationship they want (72% of women vs. 53% of men)
- If they have children (48% of women vs. 43% of men)
- Hobbies and interests (40% of women vs. 32% of men)
- Religious beliefs (32% of women vs. 18% of men)
- Racial or ethnic background (23% of women vs. 15% of men)
- Occupation (27% of women vs. 8% of men)
- Height (22% of women vs. 8% of men)
- Political affiliation (18% of women vs. 10% of men)
In each case, women felt the item was more important than men.
Statistics on How Covid Affected Online Dating
There is no doubt that Covid changed online dating, perhaps permanently.
- Users are sharing their COVID vaccine status on their dating profiles in the hope of getting more matches. There is a 137% increase in mentions of “vaccine” in user profiles worldwide.
- 42% of users said they would cancel a date with partners who don’t want to get vaccinated.
- 65% of online daters who have done video dates plan to continue virtual dating AFTER the pandemic. They feel it gives them a good way to assess a partner’s compatibility.
Research from Global Web Index found that as the pandemic winds on, “Older users have been adopting digital services at unprecedented speeds, and dating is no exception…the number of single baby boomers expecting to start dating in 2021 has increased 18%.”
Online Dating Safety for Men and Women Over 50
How safe do single men and women feel about online dating?
71% of people who have used a dating site feel that it’s a safe way to meet, compared to only 47% of those who have never used any platform. [pew]
That feeling of safety declines with age.
- For men and women between the ages of 50 and 64, 48% felt it was safe while 51% felt it was not.
- For those 65 and older, only 40% felt it was safe while 59% felt it was not.
Gender also makes a difference in feelings of safety with online dating.
- Women overall feel less safe on a dating site than men. 46% felt safe while 53% did not.
- With men, 61% feel safe while only 39% did not.
Reasons Why People Use Online Dating Sites
The reasons why people are on dating sites is a good indicator of online safety. According to a recent YouGov survey, most users are on dating apps and sites for good reasons, as shown in the chart below.
Of course, scammers aren’t going to raise their hand in a survey. The point is that overall, people’s motivations for being on dating apps are sincere.
Use common sense and dating safety routines to stay safe.
Comparison of Dating Sites – How Do I Find the Best Dating Apps and Sites?
Because there are so many ways to date online, the search for a suitable dating site can feel overwhelming.
To my knowledge, there is no single, exhaustive comparison chart or tool.
But there are a few tools that could help you narrow your search and select the platform that’s right for your needs. I listed a couple below.
This comparison of online dating services on Wikipedia lists about 45 or so of the more popular sites.
It includes useful information such as:
- Number of registered users
- Brief description of the platform
- Whether it’s free or paid or both
- Whether it accepts same-sex connections
- Whether messaging is allowed
- STD notifications
Dating Sites Reviews has a dating site comparison tool that lets you customize what you want in your search. Then you can compare the results.
They also have a list of dating sites compared by category which can be helpful in your search.
Smart Dating Over 60 compiled this Top 10 List of recommended dating sites.
Final Thoughts on Dating Apps for Mature Singles
If you are committed to the dating process, statistics show that you can find the right partner online.
Whether it’s friendship, casual dates, a lifelong partnership, marriage or one night stands, there are plenty of dating sites and apps ready to serve you.
Of course, always use caution and common sense. Some of the older, more established sites have their share of bots and scams.
Yet these are easy to spot once you’ve become comfortable with your chosen sites and apps. Bots and scammers leave plenty of clues. And as the old saying goes, anything that sounds too good to be true, probably is.
Please share your comments, questions and stories with us below, and check out our mature dating resources list below.
Mature Dating Resources List
The Secret to Mature Dating Success – A Guide for Men and Women Over 60 Searching for True Love
“Dating Statistics for Singles Over 50” – “For men in the 65+ group, 21% are single”, “For women in the 65+ group, 49% are single”, “The numbers indicate there is no shortage of opportunity for dating in any age group.”
Yes, it does! The the shortage is there is the statements.
According to recent population data, there are 30.8 million women and 24.8 million men aged 65 and over.
The number of singles has actually risen since this article was written!
About 1 in 3 of these men (8.3 million) are single, and over half of the women (nearly 17 million) are single. That’s a pretty big pool of dating prospects, and it favors men.
Even though the shortage is on the female side, my point is that overall, there are plenty of dating candidates for anyone who is looking for single people to date, male or female.
Thanks for reading and for your feedback!