Catfishing Statistics in the United States and Canada

As a team of 4 women who have never ventured into the online dating world, we are curious about the modern phenomenon of catfishing and the statistics involved.  It is common to hear horror stories from friends who have decided to take a chance on the world of internet-initiated relationships. Current statistics reveal that joining an online dating community is a very popular option. Today 49,500,000[i] Americans have admitted to trying online dating. Despite the plethora of people who have taken the chance, attention has recently focused  on the increasing trend of fake online profiles. A catfish, or a person who creates a false identity online to swindle or manipulate others[ii], may be hard to catch with the increasing ability of people to maintain anonymity online. This issue becomes more relevant as the online dating industry continues to grow.

Market growth in the dating services industry in both Canada and the United States is due to the increasing popularity (market share) of online dating; it's exploding in society. According to IBIS World, the largest provider of industry information in both Canada and the United States, Canada's Dating Services industry and market size grew by 7.1% from 2011 to 2016. It claims this is due to changing opinions about the concept of online dating, which corresponds with changing consumer preferences that now favour online systems. Though Canada only has 268 businesses[iii] in the Dating Services industry compared to 4,468 in the United States, Canada has experienced faster growth in the past five years. In the United States, annual growth has been 4.9%. IBIS claims U.S. growth is due to a growing number of Americans having access to internet, the increased legitimacy of online dating and the increased social acceptability of online dating.

With the increasing popularity of online dating, how many people are actually doing it? According to the popular dating site eHarmony, 40% of Americans who are in the dating cycle use online dating. That accounts for 40 million American users who, from a demographic perspective, are distributed along a wide age range. Age trends are interesting as well; 27% of young adults are using online dating while a 6% increase in 55 to 64 year-olds has been seen. Similarly, eHarmony claims 36% of Canadians use online dating[iv]. Specifically, 25% of Canadians ages 18 to 34 years old have claimed to have tried online dating[v]. The number of members on the two most popular dating sites, Match.com and eHarmony continues to grow. As of 2010, Match.com had a total of 21.5 million members and eHarmony had a total of 15.5 million members[vi].

Despite all of this growth in popularity and business, eHarmony reveals a less upbeat and rather concerning fact. The company claims it found that 53% of people use false information on their profile; primarily they lie about their age, height and/or weight, and job and/or income. Is this defined as catfishing or a fake profile?

---

[i] Statistic Brain (July 1, 2016). Online Dating Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.statisticbrain.com/online-dating-statistics/.

[ii] Dictionary.com (retrieved January 29, 2017). Catfish definition. Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/catfish?s=t.

[iii]IBIS World (May 2016). Dating Services in Canada: Market Research Report. Retrieved from https://www.ibisworld.ca/industry/dating-services.html.

[iv] Thottam, Isabel (Retrieved January 29, 2017). 10 Online Dating Statistics You Should Know (United States). Retrieved from http://www.eharmony.com/online-dating-statistics/.

[v] Thottam, Isabel (Retrieved January 29, 2017). 10 Online Dating Statistics You Should Know (Canada). Retrieved from http://www.eharmony.ca/online-dating-statistics/.

[vi] Diffen (retrieved January 29, 2017). Match.com vs. eHarmony. Retrieved from http://www.diffen.com/difference/Match.com_vs_eHarmony#References.