Gen Z and Millennial daters are on the hunt for love in 2022 according to a new study

Dating has never exactly been straightforward thanks to trends like ‘cookie jarring’ and ‘ghosting’ but the last two years of pandemic life have made things all the more difficult. Which is why Gen Z and Millennial daters are apparently determined to find love in 2022.

2022 looks to be a big year for change—especially if our 2022 horoscope predictions are anything to go by. We’ll see a lot of new dating trends crop up from power PDA to ‘exploridating.' However, according to dating app Happn, singles are also on the hunt for love.

The new study found that one-third of Gen Z and Millennials are looking for love and serious relationships this year. 31% said they wanted to find love, with 32% saying they were looking for someone to take a trip up the aisle with!

It’s not just relationship aspirations that have changed since the pandemic, but also what singles are prioritizing in a partner too. 

The pandemic resulted in A LOT of breakups, and dating expert Ipek Kucuk explains:  “Singles have had a tough time of late! Love lives have been put on pause for much longer than expected, and with that has come more than enough time to assess our successes and failures, and hopefully learn a few lessons along the way too.”

The top quality on everyone's checklist is actually being caring—with 41% of daters saying this was most important to them, swiftly followed by kindness, humor, and loyalty.  

As far as looks go, many don’t seem to be prioritizing attraction as much as they might have done before, with 61% saying they just want to find someone with a ‘friendly smile’—how cute is that?

Kucuk has also shared some expertise on more trends we may see, like ‘WanderLove’ which means couples who travel together. Kucuk says we’ll see a rise in new couples trekking the globe—far sooner than they may have done in a pre-pandemic relationship. This does make a lot of sense when you think about how limited and trapped we’ve all been over the last few years.

Kucuk has confirmed that fast-forwarding,  which sees couples speed up the relationship process, will definitely be a big trend—especially with singles eager to find love and jump into a serious relationship. Adding that we’ll see many couples “make some big commitments in those early days as they try to make up for ‘lost’ time.”