Finding love can be challenging, but staying in love can be even more difficult. Around the world, some countries are seeing love flourish, while others are experiencing high rates of breakups and divorces. But where in the world is love truly thriving, and where is it becoming scarce?
The question is, where in the world is love thriving – and where is romance not so readily available?
Finding love can be challenging, but staying in love can be even more difficult. Around the world, some countries are seeing love flourish, while others are experiencing high rates of breakups and divorces. But where in the world is love truly thriving, and where is it becoming scarce?
Our research also delved into the demographics of dating app users, and let’s just say… love has no age limit.
Which Countries Have the Most Successful Relationships?
Top 10 Love Locations
Based on marriage and divorce rates, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 countries where love is thriving:
- Kosovo
- Malta
- Macedonia
- Montenegro
- Azerbaijan
- Albania
- Turkey
- Romania
- Israel
- Cyprus
These countries have high marriage rates and relatively low divorce rates, making them some of the best places to find and maintain a loving relationship.
Are These the Real Love Islands?
While reality TV shows like “Love Island” are popular for finding love, some actual islands have proven to be real-life love havens. Both Malta and Cyprus rank highly in our list of love locations, with Malta boasting an 11% divorce rate and Cyprus at 31% per 1,000 people. Malta also has a low percentage of residents on dating apps, indicating that when people in Malta find their soulmate, they tend to stick with them.
Whilst a reality TV deal isn’t guaranteed, are Malta and Cyprus the real Love Islands we should be heading to to find our happy ever after?
Kosovo: The Nation with the Highest Success Rate in Love
Despite being the smallest Balkan nation, the Southeastern European country of Kosovo is one of the most successful places to find love.
With more than 40% of the population being under 25, Kosovo thrives in its younger demographic, having the highest number of marriages relative to its population (9.60 marriages per 1,000 inhabitants).
More so, only 6.86% of these marriages end in divorce, which is the lowest percentage of divorce rate within the entire study. With the highest marriage rates and the lowest divorce rates, Kosovo has the recipe for long-lasting love.
Portugal: Not a Love Hotspot
If you’re wanting to find love, Portugal should be on the top of your blacklist.
While Portugal may offer rich culture and history, it appears to struggle with maintaining long-term love. With one of the lowest marriage rates (3.30 marriages per 1,000 inhabitants) and a high divorce rate of 70%, Portugal ranks low on the list of love locations.
With the highest percentage of divorce rates and one of the lowest percentage of marriage rates across the study, it’s fair to say that Portugal is not a prime love location.
What Age Are People Getting Married Around the World?
Top 5 Youngest Western Countries To Get Married
| Rank | Country | Overall (Average Age upon marriage) | Women (Average Age upon marriage) | Men (Average Age upon marriage) |
| 1 | Mexico | 24.6 | 23.2 | 25.9 |
| 2 | Brazil | 25.4 | 23.9 | 26.8 |
| 3 | Russia | 25.7 | 24.4 | 27 |
| 4 | China | 26.3 | 25.4 | 27.1 |
| 5 | Belgium | 27.5 | 26.3 | 28.6 |
Belgium is the youngest European country to get married!
Belgium may be the youngest European country to get married (at an average of 27.5 years old), but could commiting to love at a young age actually be a hindrance?
Despite their love life seeming to boom ahead of the rest of Europe, Belgium actually places in the top 5 countries to end in divorce. Over 55% of their marriages result in a divorce suggesting that potentially young love and quick marriages aren’t always as happy as they initially seem to be.
Top 5 Oldest Western Countries To Get Married
| Rank | Country | Overall (Average Age upon marriage) | Women (Average Age upon marriage) | Men (Average Age upon marriage) |
| 1 | Bulgaria | 34.2 | 32.6 | 35.7 |
| 2 | Italy | 33.8 | 32.2 | 35.3 |
| 3 | Netherlands | 33.4 | 32.4 | 34.3 |
| 4 | France | 32.9 | 32 | 33.7 |
| 5 | Germany | 32.8 | 31.7 | 33.9 |
Bulgaria Has the Oldest Demographic of People Getting Married!
Bulgaria, on the other hand, is in no need to rush. The average age to get married there is 34.2 years old – 7 years older than Belgium. The average male is nearly 36 years old before getting married, while women are younger at 33 years old.
Age could potentially play a part in divorce rates, however, as Bulgaria sits in the middle of our study with 40% of marriages still ending in separation. Perhaps being older does not necessarily make you wiser when trying to find love.
Dating Apps: A Second Chance at Love for Over 55s
Regardless of age, everyone wants the chance to find that special someone to spend their autumn years with, and dating apps are giving our older generation just that.
With dating apps becoming more prevalent in a modern society, it’s not surprising that our older generation are beginning to jump on trend. Here is what our data has to say about it…
44% of US Bumble Users Are Over 55 Years Old!
Our research looked into the demographic of dating app users all over the world and one thing’s for sure, it is on the rise. In 2013 only 6% of seniors admitted to using dating apps, compared to 12% in 2016. If we were to go by these statistics, by the year 2030 potentially 40% of over 55s could be joining the online dating scene.
Most popular dating apps for over 55s across the world
- Match.com – 14% of users are over 55
- Eharmony 14% of users are over 55
- Christian Mingle 13% of users are over 55
If you’re wanting to find love and not sure where to look, why not check out our dating comparison site and find the perfect dating site for you on Datingroo!
Qatar’s Over 65s Are Embracing Online Dating!
As well as being the richest country in the world, Qatar’s senior love life also seems to be taking off.
Qatar ranked highest in over 65s using dating apps, with 12.71% admitting to using online dating. Despite divorce rates in Qatar being up by 71% since 2002, our study highlights that 99% of over 65s are married, meaning that this country is hopping back on the love train in their later life.
Bulgaria’s Older Population Are Sticking to Their Traditional Ways
As well as waiting the longest on average before getting married, Bulgaria also has the lowest percentage of dating app users over 65, with only 0.37% of seniors using online dating. Regardless of their divorce rate (40%), our study also found that 97% of over 65s are married, suggesting that this country, despite getting divorced, are falling back in love using some of the more traditional methods of dating.
93% of The UK Population Are Married at 65 Years Old!
Although 41.73% of UK marriages end in divorce, there is hope. Our data shows that 93% of over 65s in the UK are married, meaning that after divorce people are remarrying.
Nearly 9 million UK residents now use online dating to enhance their chances of finding love, and 490,000 of them are over 65 years old. Also, most commonly the UK uses Tinder to find love, making the UK Tinder’s 5th largest population of users after China, USA, India and Brazil.
Rise of the Silver Separator
It seems over 60s are more emotionally and financially comfortable in starting over when it comes to love. Searches for ‘divorce over 60’ have risen in all western countries. As cultures change and divorce becomes more widely accepted, it is likely to see an increasing trend of marriages ending in divorce over the coming years. It is estimated that 40%-50% of all first marriages end in divorce, however, we have also seen that many people are able to go out, find love again and remarry.
Despite this, searches for ‘sex over 60’ have declined in all countries and have continued to do so year on year. Whilst over 60s are comfortable divorcing, it seems they really are looking for love again – and not something casual.
Methodology:
Using a variety of data sources from:
- Ourworldindata.org
- UNdata
- Statista
We were able to calculate the percentage of marriages ending in divorce by looking at the average number of individuals getting married and divorced in each country.
We then looked at the percentage of age groups married per country by collecting the most recent % for each country for both men and women, combining these together to calculate the average proportion of each age group that are married.
To work out users per dating app by country, the figure of ‘total population using online dating in 2020’ was multiplied by the market share of the relevant app, this was then multiplied by the % of users over 65y/o to get an estimate to how many over 65s use each app in each country.
The figures calculated for each app were then added up in order to calculate the total number of over 65s using online dating apps per country.
The figure calculated for the number of online dating users over 65 was then divided by the total number of over 65s in the country in order to work out the proportion of over 65s using dating apps.
Search volume data was used to find searches for ‘sex’, ‘dating’, ‘divorce’ and ‘marriage’ over 60.