Match.com released findings yesterday from a new international survey that revealed U.S. singles are going on more dates than singles in any of the other participating nations.
Inspired by the 2012 Olympic games – when countries around the globe will unite in the spirit of competition – Match.com, the world’s largest dating website, surveyed singles from six countries including the U.S., U.K., Australia, Japan, France and Canada to compare dating norms and preferences of each nation. The data revealed many stark differences between the countries on topics ranging from who pays for the first date to which countries’ singles are the most likely to kiss and tell. The survey also shattered cultural stereotypes — for example, in many categories, US singles were more traditional than singles from the other countries.
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1. US Singles Win the Gold for Most Dates, with 77% reporting they have gone on two or more dates in the last year, followed by Canada (71%) and the UK (67%). Australia came in last place at 46%, showing that Aussies may want to focus a bit more on getting back into the dating game. US and Canada’s trick to winning the dating race? Could be their abundance of bold women, with more Canadian (63%) and U.S. (62%) women reporting they have asked a man out on a date — more so than other countries.
2. Friends’ opinions matter the most in the US; the least in France: France took the gold for independent thinking, with 74% of French singles reporting that their friends’ opinions weren’t a factor for choosing a date. Japan, trailing by a large gap, came in second at 47% to claim silver. For US singles, the opposite held true, with a large majority (70%) reporting that friends’ opinions of their date matter. Northern neighbor Canada held similar attitudes in this category (68%).
3. Who pays on the first date? US singles were the most likely to believe that no matter who initiated the first date, the man should always pay (48%), while 37% of UK singles felt the first date bill should always be split. French singles however were the least likely to believe in a specific rule, with 36% reporting that depending on the situation, either person could pay. *Additional data on how nations are ‘split’ over who should handle the bill are included in the below release.
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4. Kiss and tell? US singles bare it all, while the French keep details hush-hush: French singles were least likely to kiss and tell, with 35% of respondents not sharing details of their dates with their friends, closely followed by Japan at 30%. On the opposite end of the spectrum, U.S. singles were the most likely to tell their friends everything that happened on a date – with 92% admitting they would share at least some details with their pals.
5. Hottest singles in the world? Worldwide, the familiar trumps the exotic, with singles from every country overwhelmingly reporting that the hottest singles were in their OWN country. Besides expressing loyalty to their own countries, those we surveyed agreed that Southern Europe is home to the hottest singles in the world. Japanese and Aussie respondents preferred the singles in Northern Europe.
For more survey results, visit http://blog.match.com/dating-championship. For more information, visit http://www.match.com.
