Love online: half Dutch young adults have a dating app profile

Almost half young Dutch adults have used dating apps like Tinder and Grindr to find love and more than half consider seeking a partner online just as ‘normal’ as more traditional methods, according to a new survey by the Rutgers foundation for the Volkskrant.

In total, one in five people in the Netherlands has made a profile for an online dating site, the survey found, ranging from 48% of the under 24s to 4% of the over 65s.

Tinder is by far the most popular, followed by Happn and Grindr.

However, the number of people actually going on a date with someone they’ve matched with online is much lower. ‘Most people make a profile, swipe and find a match,’ Rutgers researcher Hanneke de Graaf told the paper.

‘But if you ask who actually went on a date, the percentage plummets. And if you ask who has had sex via a dating app, the figure is lower still.’

The survey also found 20% of people had taken nude or sexual photos of themselves and 70% of them had sent them to a third person.

And 30% of the 1,015 people in the survey said it is the fault of the people taking the photo of themselves if their image ends up in general circulation.