These Are 2023’s Top Dating Trends

We all know dating is exhausting, especially for women, and especially when the latest shady dating move comes along. Dating on the apps can feel like a real chore at the best of times, so it pays to be across the latest trends.

With this in mind, it's definitely helpful to look at Bumble's dating predictions for 2023. They're based on a poll of 10,000 swipers worldwide, so they should offer an insight into the mindsets of people on the apps right now. (Oh, and FYI, there's now an app reserved just for students).

Prospects are pretty positive for fans of a long-distance relationship, with a third of daters saying they're now more open to dating someone in a different city. Sex-positivity is on the increase too: 53% of people believe it's important to discuss their sexual wants and needs early on, while 34% say they are not having sex right now and feel cool with that. 

Encouragingly, daters are also becoming more open-minded about the people they match with: 38% say they're now more open to dating beyond their typical physical "type", while 28% are less worried about dating the type of person that others expect them to. 

Also encouraging: daters are becoming more confident about setting boundaries. More than half (52%) say they've set more boundaries over the past year, and more than half said they've got better at saying no to social commitments when they're just not up to it.

Interestingly, the importance of work-life balance is also permeating the way we date, with 14% of swipers saying they'd no longer date someone with a super-demanding job. In light of the cost-of-living crisis, it's probably no surprise that more than half (57%) prefer a casual first date to something more elaborate and spenny.

Perhaps most encouraging of all, 74% of men said they have examined their dating behaviour in the past year – to which the only logical response is "about time too."

Meanwhile, 49% of men now believe that breaking gender roles in dating and relationships is beneficial for them (as well as beneficial to women and non-binary folks), which means we just need to show the other 51% the way forward.