Swiping right: How couples meet has changed a lot since the '90s

1/21/21 7:00PM

Bumble, the dating app which has focused on the experience of women on its platform, has filed with the SEC for an IPO which could value the company at more than $6bn. Bumble is just the latest dating app to have grown and matured into a substantial business, with revenues of $417m for the first nine months of last year.

As the chart above shows, it is no surprise that dating apps and platforms are becoming significant businesses when the majority of new couples are meeting online — according to data from the studies "How Couples Meet and Stay Together" from Stanford University.

Of heterosexual couples who met in 1995, roughly one-third met through friends, but by 2017 that number had fallen to just 20%, while almost 40% of couples met online. In same-sex couples, the number that met online is even higher at 65%.

Interestingly, meeting in a bar or restaurant was the only other medium that became a better matchmaker over the study period, with 27% of heterosexual couples meeting that way in 2017, up from 19% in 1995. Looking for love? Go to a bar and then go on a dating app while you're there.

Jake Lahut

PAIN AT THE PUMP

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The UAE’s OPEC exit will hit the group in the barrels

After just shy of 60 years in OPEC, its membership even predating its status as a nation-state, the United Arab Emirates yesterday announced its shocking departure from the oil production group, effective May 1, as the knock-on effects of the Iran war continue to play out across the Middle East and the energy landscape.

For context, the UAE produces the third-highest amount of oil in the group, per April data and OPEC’s latest set of annual statistics.

According to the cartel’s 2025 Annual Statistical Bulletin, the OPEC group was collectively exporting some 19 million barrels of crude oil a day last year, with the United Arab Emirates accounting for some 14% of that daily output.

UAExit means UAExit

The nation, whose energy minister told Reuters yesterday that the decision was taken “after a careful look at current and future policies related to level of production” and wasn’t made following discussions with any other country, made up a healthy share of the group’s total confirmed crude oil reserves, as well.

Of the 12 nations in the core group, which was founded by just five oil superpowers back in September 1960, only two (Iraq and Saudi Arabia) exported more barrels of crude oil daily, pumping out 3.36 million and 6.05 million barrels, respectively, each day to nations around the world.

For its part, the UAE said it will “continue its responsible role by gradually and thoughtfully increasing production, in line with demand and market conditions,” per the official state news agency. Clearly, the nation now wants a little more control of just how much oil it can pump around the world, with the UAE having to eat a large proportion of lost revenues due to its healthy abundance and OPEC restrictions.