Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Dating is hard at the best of times, but throw a pandemic into the mix and things become even more complicated – but plenty of singletons are holding out hope that 2022 is the year they get lucky in love.
According to a study by dating app happn, a third of Millennials and Generation Z are looking for love this year, with 37 per cent of them wanting a relationship and 32 per cent looking for marriage.
The research also revealed what single people are prioritising in a partner, with 40 per cent looking for a caring partner and 61 per cent saying they would be attracted to someone who has a friendly smile.
The top five qualities that people are looking for in a partner include someone who is caring, kind (39 per cent), has a good sense of humour (35 per cent), is loyal (34 per cent) and loving (33 per cent).
In terms of physical attraction, aside from a friendly smile, people are also prioritising physical fitness (39 per cent), height (27 per cent), eye colour (24 per cent) and natural features (22 per cent) in a potential romantic partner.
Commenting on the findings, dating expert Ipek Kucuk said: “Every New Year brings the opportunity to discover. Whether that be something new about ourselves in general or something new about our approach to dating.
“Singles have had a tough time of late. Love lives have been put on pause for much longer than expected, and with that has come more than enough time to assess our successes and failures, and hopefully learn a few lessons along the way too.”
The fact that so many people are pursuing a relationship this year comes after levels of loneliness rose significantly since spring 2020.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), about 3.7 million UK adults (7.2 per cent of the adult population) said they felt lonely “often” or “always” between October 2020 to February 2021.
Data published by the ONS found that younger and single people who were unmarried or living alone were more likely to be lonely, which affected their wellbeing and mental health.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments