Statistics we cite
In brief: every number published on situationshiphelp is on this page, with the organisation that measured it, the year, and the exact group it describes. Each entry has a permalink, so a single figure can be cited by linking its anchor. Last verification: 2026-08-21.
A primary source is the organisation that ran the measurement and published the result, not an article reporting on it. Everything below links to one.A probability sample is a sample drawn so that every member of a population has a known chance of being selected, which is what allows a figure to be described as applying to US adults rather than to the people who happened to answer.An opt-in panel is the opposite arrangement — respondents recruit themselves — and figures from one are not published here, however widely they circulate.
For example, the most-shared ghosting statistics on the web come from dating companies surveying their own users. Those are on the sources page under what we rejected, together with the reason, rather than here.
| Count | |
|---|---|
| Figures published | 33 |
| Distinct primary sources | 11 |
| Publishing organisations | YouGov, Pew Research Center, Dictionary.com, Oxford University Press |
| Claims checked and rejected | 17 |
| Last verification | 2026-08-21 |
How many people have been in a situationship?
Two figures, both from the same YouGov survey of US adults, one for all adults and one for under-35s.
How common is ghosting?
Lifetime experience, not a yearly rate, and measured across four different bases — age, and whether someone has used online dating.
- 29% — About three-in-ten US adults (29%) say someone they had gone out with suddenly stopped answering their calls or messages without explanation#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
- 42% — About four-in-ten US adults aged 18 to 29 (42%) say they have been ghosted#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
- 53% — 53% of US adults who have used online dating say they have been ghosted#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
- 19% — 19% of US adults who have never used online dating say they have been ghosted#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
- 62% — 62% of US adults said they had heard of the dating term "ghosting"#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
- 40% — 40% of single US adults who are on the dating market say that if they decided after a first date they did not want to go out with that person again, they would contact them and let them know#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
- 52% — 52% of single US adults on the dating market say that after a first date they did not want to repeat, they would not contact the person but would let them know if the person contacted them#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
- 8% — 8% of single US adults on the dating market say that after a first date they did not want to repeat, they would not contact the person and would not respond if the person contacted them#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
How well known are these words?
Awareness of the word, which is not the same as experience of the behaviour it names.
- 89% — 89% of US adults said they had heard of the term "friends with benefits"#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
- 63% — 63% of US adults said they had heard of the term "catfishing"#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
- 9% — 9% of US adults said they had heard of the term "breadcrumbing"#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
How do people end early connections?
Stated intentions after a first date, and judgements about how a casual relationship should be ended.
- 87% — 87% of US adults say it is always acceptable to break up in person with someone you are casually dating#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
- 48% — 48% of US adults say it is never acceptable to break up by text message with someone you are casually dating#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
- 18% — 18% of US adults say it is sometimes acceptable to break up by text message with someone you are casually dating#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
- 44% — 44% of US adults who have used a dating site or app in the past year say meeting a long-term partner is a major reason they used them#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2023) · verified 2026-08-21
- 40% — 40% of US adults who have used a dating site or app in the past year say dating casually is a major reason they used them#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2023) · verified 2026-08-21
What do the online-dating numbers say?
Use, motives and outcomes, from two Pew Research Center reports.
- 26% — 26% of US adults who are not in a committed relationship say they are looking for either a committed relationship or casual dates#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
- 30% — 30% of US adults say they have ever used a dating site or app#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2023) · verified 2026-08-21
- 53% — 53% of US adults under 30 say they have ever used a dating site or app#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2023) · verified 2026-08-21
- 9% — 9% of US adults say they have used a dating site or app in the past year#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2023) · verified 2026-08-21
- 10% — 10% of partnered US adults say they first met their current spouse or partner on a dating site or app#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2023) · verified 2026-08-21
- 47% — 47% of US adults say that, for most people, dating is harder today than it was 10 years ago#
- Source: Pew Research Center (2020) · verified 2026-08-21
Which of these words are recorded in a dictionary?
These are not statistics. They are lexicographic evidence — what a dictionary or a publisher glossary says about a word — and they are never a measure of how many people do anything.
- first recorded in 2005–10 — Dictionary.com defines a situationship as "a romantic or sexual relationship that its participants have not defined, and which can also lack commitment or exclusivity", labelled informal, and dates the word's first recorded use to 2005–10#
- Source: Dictionary.com (2026) · verified 2026-08-21
- 1 of 4 finalists — "Situationship" was one of the four finalists for Oxford University Press's Word of the Year 2023, alongside rizz (the winner), Swiftie and prompt#
- Source: Oxford University Press (2023) · verified 2026-08-21
- N/A — definition — Dictionary.com defines ghosting as "the practice of suddenly ending all contact with a person without explanation, often in a dating or romantic relationship"#
- Source: Dictionary.com (2026) · verified 2026-08-21
- N/A — definition — Dictionary.com gives soft launch a relationship sense: "a subtle reveal of a romantic or personal relationship without giving direct and unambiguous information"#
- Source: Dictionary.com (2026) · verified 2026-08-21
- N/A — definition — Dictionary.com's dating-slang glossary defines benching as "keeping a potential romantic partner on hold in case others don't work out"#
- Source: Dictionary.com (2021) · verified 2026-08-21
- N/A — definition — Dictionary.com's dating-slang glossary defines orbiting as "when someone breaks off all contact with a person they were dating in real life, but they continue following that person on social media"#
- Source: Dictionary.com (2021) · verified 2026-08-21
- N/A — definition — Dictionary.com's dating-slang glossary describes a zombie as "a ghoster who 'rises from the dead' and contacts you like nothing ever happened"#
- Source: Dictionary.com (2021) · verified 2026-08-21
- N/A — definition — Dictionary.com's dating-slang glossary describes breadcrumbing as engaging in "occasional chats and messages" and even flirting while not intending "to actually pursue a relationship"#
- Source: Dictionary.com (2021) · verified 2026-08-21
Can I reuse these figures?
Yes, with attribution and a link to this page or to the primary source. Consider linking the anchor of the individual entry rather than the page: it carries the exact wording of the question and the group it was asked of, which is the part that is easiest to lose in retelling. How pages here get written and checked is on theeditorial policy.