Section 1: the relationships landscape in the UK

How many Britons are in a relationship?

Currently, 65% of Britons say they are in a relationship. A further quarter (24%) say they do not currently have a romantic partner, but have previously, while 9% say they have never been in a relationship.

How long have Britons been in their relationship?

Almost half of current relationships in Britain (48%) have been going on for more than two decades.

Another 13% have been with their partner for 15-20 years and 10% have been together for 11-14 years.

One in twenty relationships (5%) are just getting going, having started a year ago or less, including one in five (21%) of relationships among people under-30.

What is the longest relationship Britons have been in?

Expanding our sample to include those who are not currently in a relationship – but have been previously – finds 42% saying their longest ever relationship has been two decades or more.

Over a third of this group (34%) say they have not been in a relationship that lasted longer than 10 years, with 17% not having made it past the four-year mark, and 4% saying they’ve never been in a relationship that made it past a year.

How many relationships have Britons had?

The median number of relationships that Britons have had is three. This is also the most common answer, with 19% saying they have been in three relationships ever, compared to 16% who say two, another 16% who say one, and 13% who say four.

Around one in six people (18%) say they have had five or more relationships.

While older Britons have had more years with which to engage in relationships, the number of partners people say they have had does not really grow for age groups from 30 onwards.

How many Britons live with their partner?

Fully 85% of Britons in relationships are cohabiting with their partner, with only 15% not doing so.

Under-30s in relationships are the only group that do not tend to be living with their partner, with only 45% doing so, compared to 86-92% among older age groups.

Comparing people’s answers with how long they’ve been in a relationship shows that most people have moved in with their partner once they’ve been dating for 3-4 years, with 64% of people in this group now cohabiting.

Prior to this, only 28% of those who have been in a relationship for 1-2 years are living together, along with a particularly fast-moving 18% of those who have only been dating for 6-12 months.

How did Britons meet their partner?

Asked how they met their current or most recent romantic partner, the two most common answers are through work (19%) or through friends (18%).

Slightly fewer (14%) say they met in passing while out and about, while dating apps account for 11% of relationship formations (with another 5% having met via older forms of online dating like OkCupid).

Less common answers include meeting at university (6%) or school (6%), shared hobbies (5%) or through family (3%).

Breaking down the answers by age shows how the romantic landscape has shifted over time.

Most notably, the number of people who say they have met their partner in passing while out and about has fallen off, from 20% of the over-60s and 18% of those in their 50s to just 5-6% among those in their 20s and 30s.

By contrast, the younger age groups are now much more likely to have met their partner via dating app (16% of 18-29 year olds and 22% of 30-39 year olds), compared to just 3% of the over-60s.

The youngest adults are also more likely to have met their partner at school (18%) or university (17%) than the older age groups, although this likely reflects the relative youth of the former group more than it does any particular shift in dating trends.

See full results here

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Photo: Getty