A report released by the Pew Research Center shows that the majority of single people do not want to be in a relationship.
The research center’s findings are based on a 2019 study of 4,860 adults in the United States. According to the the report, to ensure that the study reflects ‘a balanced cross-section of the nation, the data are weighted to match the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories’. Among numerous other things, the study’s most surprising finding was that 50 percent of single people are not looking for a relationship or even a date.
In fact, only 14% of single people are looking for a serious, committed relationship.
With 50% of people not interested in relationships and a further 10% only interested in casual dates, 40% of people are looking for a relationship. Taking away the 26% of people who are interested in a relationship but in casual dating too, we are left with 14% of people who are only looking for a committed relationship. Taking this further, the Pew Research Center claims that “single men are far more likely than single women to be looking for a relationship or dates – 61% vs. 38%. This gender gap is especially apparent among older singles.” These findings prove that the belief that the majority of single people (and especially women) want to be in a relationship, is actually false.
Older women and people who have been married before are especially uninterested in dating.
According to the study, those who have been married, are older or widowed are less interested in finding a romantic relationship. What is more, Bella DePaulo Ph.D explains that the percentage of people uninterested in relationships grows with age:
- 37 percent: ages 18-29
- 39 percent: ages 30-49
- 50 percent: ages 50-64
- 75 percent: ages 65-plus
What are the reasons why 50% of single people want to remain single?
The study found that the majority of those under the age of 50 preferred to stay single because they have other, more important priorities whereas those over 50 claimed that they just like being single. Among these, there are other reasons why people choose to remain single. Some of these reasons include being too busy, having had bad experiences and feeling that they are too old to date.
The full report ‘Nearly Half of U.S. Adults Say Dating Has Gotten Harder for Most People in the Last 10 Years’ can be found here.
