BBC Article Reveals How Drastically The Search For Love Has Changed

An interesting new article on BBC News focuses on how the means by which people meet their life partners has drastically changed in the last 70 years.

Written by Paul Kerley, the piece uses findings from a number of studies to identify changes in how and where individuals meet love interests, and the age at which people get married nowadays, compared to the age people wed in previous decades.

The article refers to figures from the Office for National Statistics, which found that in England and Wales during the late 1960s, 76% of brides were under 25, whereas in 2012, that figure was 14%.

However, over the past 35 years, the average (mean) age for marriage across the UK has increased from mid-20s to mid-30s.

The article notes the ideas of sociology professor and co-author of book Modern Romance, Eric Klinenberg, who says that these changes are not only the cause of technological advancements, but also are also “linked to deeper cultural shifts”.

According to a study by Michael Rosenfeld, the way in which people meet love interests has also dramatically changed in the past 35 years.

The article refers to two graphs we wrote about yesterday, which both show just how much the landscape of dating and relationships has changed over the past 20/30 years.

Rosenfeld found that in the US in 1940, the most common ways to find a partner were through family connections and attending church.

By 1990, nearly 40% of couples met through friends, and in 2009, 70% of US same-sex couples met online.

Check out the full BBC article here.