Single Brits Make Love Their Top Priority for 2005

Single Brits Make Love Their Top Priority for 2005

LONDON, December 29/PRNewswire/ --

- Half of UK Singles Have Made Finding a Partner in 2005 Their Top New
Year's Resolution - a 100% Increase on Last Year, According to a Match.com
Survey of 1400 UK Singles



Finding a partner was deemed the most important priority for 2005, in a
survey conducted by leading online dating service Match.com this month on
what singles hope for in 2005. Securing a relationship was named by 50 per
cent of singles -ahead of getting a promotion or travelling which came an
equal second place with 15 per cent each. The traditional 'losing weight and
getting fit' accounted for 10 per cent of New Year resolutions, followed by
giving up smoking with six per cent and getting on the property ladder which
garnered four per cent of opinion.



Last year, losing weight and getting fit was the primary concern of one
third of British singles surveyed, followed by getting a new job - 27 per
cent. Just a quarter of singles surveyed by Match.com at the end of 2003 said
that finding a new partner was their main goal for the coming year.



The fact that so many single people have overhauled their priorities
could be partly to do with the festive season. 50 per cent of singles
surveyed commented that feeling the lack of a partner intensified at this
time of year - even though they believe that the pressure tends to come from
within rather than from interfering relatives or 'coupled up' friends.



Samantha Bedford, of MD of Match.com UK said "These results show an
amazing shift in the single community's value system over a very short space
of time, but I think the change in emphasis was inevitable."



She continued "As a society we have prided ourselves on putting our
careers and our physical well-being first and foremost, but we have neglected
our emotional lives to our detriment. People who actively looked for love
used to be seen as weak, but it is starting to dawn on us that in order to
find someone special, you have to be as pro-active as you are when looking
for a new job - whether that involves searching for singles online or simply
smiling at a stranger in the street."



Match.com also found that the shift towards friends evolving into a
second, urban family, as documented in TV programmes such as 'Sex in the
City' and 'Friends' is becoming even more pronounced. A quarter of singles
will be spending Christmas with their friends instead of their families this
year. Also, despite the fact that almost 50 per cent of UK singles surveyed
by Match.com will still be returning to the family home for the festivities -
40 per cent of them feel that they are pressurised by their relations into
doing so when in fact, they would rather be elsewhere entirely.



The high value that singles place on their friends was further
highlighted by the fact almost a quarter of singles surveyed on Match.com
believe their greatest achievement of 2004 has been to make new friends
whilst maintaining good relationships with their old ones. The second most
valued achievement was having ended an unhappy relationship. Getting a
promotion at work came in at third place with just seventeen per cent of
singles saying that their success at work was their greatest achievement.



Facts and figures from the survey



- 80% of singles in the UK anticipate that they will enjoy Christmas this
year - with 70% of them planning to go to more than five seasonal social
events in December



- 48% of singles plan to spend Christmas at home whilst 25% spend
Christmas with Friends



- 40% of singles feel pressured into spending Christmas with their
families



- 20% are tempted to take themselves off on a luxury holiday rather and
not have to bother with the Christmas season



- 60% of singles still believe that the only way to have a happy
Christmas is to spend it with family or a partner



- 40% of singles will spend the period between Christmas and New Year
partying hard with friends whilst a further 30% will be heading back to work



- The period between Christmas and New Year is a very reflective time for
singles, with over 35% looking back at what they've achieved over the last 12
months and devising ways of making the forthcoming year even more successful.
30% feel very content to be around family and old friends at this time,
whilst 20% are depressed and a further 15% are just plain burnt out by Boxing
Day due to excessive partying



- 40% of singles will spend over GBP500 on Christmas presents and
socialising



- 50% of singles will make their top priority for 2005 finding a partner,
followed by changing job/getting a promotion and then losing weight and
getting fit



- What is the greatest achievement of 2004 for UK singles? - Top choice
was making new friends whilst maintaining good relationships with old ones.



- 50% of singles feel pressure to have a partner over Christmas - but the
pressure is mostly from themselves as opposed to external pressure from
family or coupled up friends.



About Match.com



Match.com is the world's biggest online dating and personals property,
according to the October 2004 global ranking of the Personals category by
industry-leading independent measurement firm comScore Media Metrix.
Match.com operates leading subscription-based online dating sites in 32
countries, in 18 languages and spanning six continents. The site has more
than 15 million members globally. Since its launch in 1995, Match.com has led
the way in providing adults worldwide with a fun, private and secure
environment for meeting each other. Based on resignation survey data,
Match.com calculates that more than 200,000 Match.com members met the person
they were seeking on the site in 2003 alone. Match.com powers online dating
on MSN across Europe, Asia, the United States, Australia (NineMSN) and Latin
America and for companies such as T-Online, RTL, Wanadoo, Telia and Tiscali
in Europe. Internationally, Match.com is the premier provider of personals
for Love@AOL, offering the Match.com service across AOL.com and AOL.co.uk.
Match.com is an operating business of IAC/InterActiveCorp (Nasdaq: IACI).





Source: Match.com

Jill Stoppard, Match.com, +44-7956-445-360



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