Survey shows

You get to know your first love through your circle of friends

The classic "roasting" when going out is often overestimated

(Bild: www.seidl.photo)

The circle of friends plays a huge role in choosing a partner: around 20 percent met their first love and 22 percent met their current love this way. More than a quarter of those surveyed are still together with their first great love, while one in four are not currently in a committed relationship, according to a recent survey conducted by the Linz-based IMAS Institute in view of Valentine's Day on Friday.

For many, the first relationship also came about at parties (13 percent) or through education (ten percent), while current love often (17 percent) sparked at work. While older people over the age of 60 found their first love through family or neighbors (eight percent and seven percent respectively), the Internet and dating apps (eight percent) play a similar role for younger people (16 to 34 years), while just one percent of people over the age of 35 found their sweetheart this way.

Older people find love on vacation
Across all generations, current partnerships most often came about through friends (20 to 25 percent) and work (16 to 20 percent). Then the age groups divide: For 16 to 34-year-olds, online or dating apps follow with twelve percent, for 35 to 59-year-olds parties and festivals (eight percent) as well as a bar, dating apps or club/hobbies (all seven percent), whereas the over-60s met their current favorite person at a club or hobby or on vacation (eight percent each) - dating apps played no role at all for them.

1013 people surveyed
IMAS surveyed 1013 people, statistically representative of the Austrian population aged 16 and over, in face-to-face interviews from December 16, 2024 to January 8, 2025.