Love softens the toughest heart. People have confessed to being changed by love in ways they didn’t see coming. The facts and statistics below show why this could be the most powerful emotion humans can feel. 

80 Love Facts and Statistics You Need to Know

1. How do you find love? At least 30% of American adults have used online dating sites to find their love, with 12% committing for the long run. (Source: Pew Research Center)
2. Saying “I Love you” is not synonymous with romantic relationships. 35% of the people polled in a survey reported having said it repeatedly to their friends and meaning it. (Source: Time) 
3. The same regions of the brain that respond to reward, addiction, and motivation are activated when we are in love. Makes sense why love feels so good. (Source: Psychology Today)
4. The economy benefits greatly from love. The average American spent at least $196 on Valentine’s Day in 2020, and the figures can only rise due to inflation and other cost variables. On average, the annual spending on this special day in the US has been above $20 billion since 2018. (Source: Statista)
5. Survey shows women take 123 days on average to say ‘I love you’ while men only need 108 days. Experts believe women are more cautious of falling in love too soon in case it ends in heartbreak. Men, on the other hand, are often more risk-averse.   (Source: Sage Journals)
6. 52% of Americans believe in love at first sight, and 10% have reportedly been in love the first time they met their significant other. Younger people below 35 were more prone to believe in this kind of love than their older counterparts (Source: Gallup)
7. The hormones responsible for what we feel when in love, oxytocin and vasopressin, are activated in seconds by the smallest gestures, including looking at our object of desire. (Source: Wiley Online Library)
8. The brain’s reward region that activates when we are in love is not simply stimulated by a person of interest. The hormones return the good feeling after people get to know each other and are familiar. (Source: Sage Journals)
9. 67% of UK residents polled by Bumble Dating App believe in falling in love before meeting the person. Simply making contact and communicating constantly is enough for them to be in love. (Source: Metro) 
10. Intense love feelings can take away physical pain with the effectiveness of painkillers. (Source: Stanford University)
11. Your personality could take a boost from being in love. The levels of neuroticism – which involves negative emotions and inability to deal effectively with stress –  are lower for people in love and happily coupled. (Source: NIH)
12. Coordinated laughter and smiles or giggles when couples in love talk about how they met are indicators of how they feel for each other and their shared memories. (Source: NIH)
13. Falling in love is the first stage of a relationship. At the beginning, also known as the euphoric stage and lasts 6-24 months, people are likely to overlook faults since they are deeply taken with each other. (Source: Very Well Mind) 
14. Serotonin levels drop when we are in love, especially in the initial stages. This hormone is responsible for anxiety, which explains why we may obsess over the little details, like why a text sounds a little different or why they didn’t refer to us the same way they did last time. (Source: APA)
15. The euphoric stage of love makes one react to a picture of their loved one as they would water. Experts say the feeling is akin to meeting a basic need. (Source: NIH)
16. As love settles and the euphoric feeling ends, couples tend to react differently to each other. The basal ganglia was the brain region activated when they saw pictures of their loved ones, showing they had developed the ability to stick around even when things were not rosy. (Source: APA PyscNet)
17. A survey in the UK found there was a 1 in 562 chance of finding true love. The most likely ways to meet and fall in love included dating sites, school reunions, college, and the gym. (Source: Daily Mail)
18. You know how people who have been in love with each other for long finish each other’s sentences? Turns out longevity boosts the activation of the angular gyrus, which predicts intentions. (Source: NIH)
19. If you believe in soulmates, your chance of meeting yours is 1 in 10,000 in a study that considered half a billion people. The experiment was based on the fact that people have to look others in their eyes to feel the spark linked to soulmates. (Source: Project M)
20. At least 80% of the world’s population reported experiencing love at least each day – romantic and non-romantic. (Source: Gallup)
21. Falling in love feels like being high on prohibited drugs like cocaine and could lead to irrational thinking and actions when the feeling is still new. (Source: Medical News Today)
22. The neurological reaction linked to love could happen in a fifth of a second. Some people know they are romantically attracted to another that fast. (Source: Wiley Online)
23. People tend to fall in love with others like them or those with similar interests. This debunks the ‘opposites attract’ myth. (Source: Science Daily)
24. Spontaneity could make people feel more loved and responsive to their partners. 4 in 5 couples felt more confident, more open to communication, and more intimate when interacting spontaneously with their significant others. (Source: Huffington Post)
25. Feeling pain? Try cuddling and see whether some of that pain goes away. (Source: WebMD)
26. You may stop being attracted to other people when you are in love. (Source: Healthline)
27. Gazing intensely into someone’s eyes could spark feelings, thanks to the oxytocin released that allows bonding. (Source: Cooper Vision)
28. Although falling in love is rewarding for most people, some can turn obsessive towards their partners. Obsessive love is exceedingly possessive. (Source: Frontiers)
29. Love has three parts: attraction – the first phase, lust, and attachment, which happens as two people grow together in love. (Source: Hellen Fisher) 
30. People who feel loved on most days of their lives have more optimistic outlooks on life. (Source: Science Daily)
31. Kissing, leaving sweet notes behind for your partner to see, hugs, and other ways of affirming love release oxytocin that can improve one’s physical health. (Source: ASU News)
32. Love makes one fearless. The amygdala regulates fear, and once it is deactivated by love, people become bolder and more daring. This explains how timid people could be unafraid to display affection in public when they are in love. (Source: Nature Neuroscience)
33. You are not all helpless in love. A study shows one can control how they feel about someone by activating negative or positive thoughts when needed. (Source: PLOS)
34. More people than you may think are influenced by movies to believe in the notion of love being beautiful all through, and they may enter into relationships with this view. (Source: Taylor & Francis)
35. People tend to gravitate towards what they know, including social class and attractiveness. One’s self-worth will also play an important role, as some go for mates who would be considered out of their league.  (Source: Sage Journals)
36. The broken heart syndrome is real and presents in a condition called Takotsubo Cardiopathy. This condition sends the sensation of a stress-induced heart attack that is worse in people who recently lost people they love. (Source: NIH)  
37. Most people think of the heart when love is mentioned, but the most significant changes happen in the brain. (Source: Frontiers)
38. Lovesickness? It’s a real thing that happens when a release of cortisol slows down the immune system’s response. (Source: The Harvard Gazette)
39. A heart capable of loving deeply could hate the same person with the same passion. (Source: Frontiers)
40. People in love with each other could synchronize their heartbeats when engaged in similar activities. Isn’t that cute? (Source: NIH)
41. Physical touch is an underrated love language that calms nerves and reassures loved ones. (Source: New York Times)
42. Love grows as people grow. The initial stages are anxiety-inducing because the brain is wired to feel that, but time settles the brain and mind. (Source: Harvard Med)
43. Do you know you can feel the same intense love for the same person decades after you first met them? An SBU study showed couples can be in love like when they first met, even after two decades. (Source: Stony Brook University)
44. Kissing does more than initiate foreplay. Kissing among romantic partners has similar effects to eating chocolate – calming and comforting. (Source: NIH)
45. Sharing a mutual gaze for a few minutes with someone you love could ignite sparks and passion. (Source: Science Direct)
46. How’s your sense of humor? Because love thrives when two people share that. They don’t have to see things the same all the time, but sharing laughs over some seemingly stupid things could make their love even better. (Research Gate)
47. Physical traits have a lot to do with love at first sight. (Source: NIH)
48. The word ‘love’ was once ‘leubh’ that changed to ‘lufu,’ meaning ‘to be very fond of.’ (Source: White Smoke)
49. Women feel more loved when interacting with their partners face-to-face, while men do well with side-to-side interactions when they walk and play together.  Source: SPSP)
50. Falling in love boosts the nerve growth factor level linked with the maintenance and survival of brain cells. (Source: Live Science)
51. Want to increase the levels of your love hormone? Show a random act of kindness today. It has been seen to release dopamine, which creates euphoria. (Source: Cedar Sinai)
52. Most people associate red with some of the most intense feelings, and on top of them is love. It explains why red is all the rage on Valentine’s Day and during celebrations of love. (Source: Psychology Today) 
53. When we are in love, we suppress the parts that show us the negative traits of our significant others. Love does indeed make us blind. (Source: Harvard Edu)
54. A study shows that falling in love could make one lazy and less productive. The initial stages of love can consume you so much that you will think of nothing much other than your love. (Source: Springer)
55. If you have seen memes of women’s moods changing after meals, there is a scientific connection. Women respond better to romantic stimuli after a meal. (Source: Science Daily)
56. It’s often thought women are more emotionally wrecked by failed love, but a study begged to differ. (Source: Science Daily)
57. Red roses are linked to love, right? This follows the Greek Mythology when the goddess of love, Venus, ran to warn her love, Adonis, of a plot to kill him. The thorns on the rose bushes cut at her ankles, leaving trails of blood where roses sprout. (Source: Electimus)
58. We sniff out our potential partners and tend to pair up with those whose genetic dispensation differs from ours. This is linked to the human instinct to ensure survival. Source: The Guardian)
59. If you constantly daydream about your love interest – as you should – your mind develops creative feelings that could enhance your bond. Source: Science Direct)
60. Serotonin is the hormone associated with sleep and mood regulation, and these are at their best when the hormone level is normal. Falling in love reduces these levels, causing a change in mood and sometimes increased stress and anxiety levels, and these changes may affect how we relate to others. (Source: Cleveland Clinic)
61. Smell ranks quite highly in the men that a woman finds attractive. The pheromonal attraction between humans shows people depend on more than looks when looking for potential partners. (Source: Science Direct)
62. People fall in love based on what they are looking for at that time. They could prioritize looks and physical attributes when they are in for a casual fling and similarity and reciprocal liking when looking for a long-term commitment. (Source: APA)
63. Not everyone can fall in love. A condition called hypopituitarism, where the pituitary gland fails to produce some hormones could deter one from romantic connections. (Source: Mayo Clinic)
64. Eros, the god of love as per Greek mythology, comes from the empty void of chaos. Can we then say love is chaos? (Source: Cliff Notes)
65. When some people say they are too in love to eat or sleep, believe them. Dopamine and norepinephrine that are produced during those stages of attraction also suppress appetite and cause insomnia. (Source: Harvard Edu) 
66. Sleeping next to someone you love could help you fall asleep faster and improve your sleep quality, thanks to increased oxytocin levels. (Source: Penn University)
67. The heart was first used as a symbol of love in 1250. Before that, this symbol was simply decorative art. Can you imagine anything else symbolizing love? (Source: 6SqFt)
68. Philophobia: the extreme fear of being in love and committing to another. Some people have it, which prevents them from feeling one of the most intense emotions known to man. (Source: WebMD) 
69. Are migraines killing you? Maybe a dose of the love hormone – oxytocin – could do you some good.  Source: Headache Journal)
70. You might be missing out on the love of your life by failing to interact with other passengers on the plane. 1 out of 50 travelers met their significant others this way. (Source: News24)
71. Love is live and active every day! At least 3 million first dates happen every day. (Source: Fast Company)
72. You spend at least 6% of your time socializing with your loved one. Germans are especially keen on quality time together, spending about 10% of it together. (Source: Big Think)
73. First date idea: jump off a plane or a cliff. People heighten their levels of attraction to each other after participating in adrenaline-inducing activities. (Source: APA)
74. Love makes people defy rules. The Queen of Norway, Queen Sonja, was a commoner before she got married and earned her title. That would usually not happen as royalty dates royalty. Love truly defies societal norms and order. (Source: Royal Court)
75. Love and desire spark parts of the brain but do not necessarily work together. (Source: Science Direct)
76. The butterflies you feel when meeting someone you love are real flutters in the gut. (Source: NBC News)
77. Most people in love see the best attributes of their partners and, in a sense, regard them quite highly. (Source: APA)
78. One’s memory might be better when they are in love. (Source: APA)
79. Love can make one clingy, as people have different attachment styles. Source: Live Science)
80. Intense feelings of love can heighten your pain tolerance. (Source: Stanford Medicine)

Conclusion

Most people who have experienced love do not understand the fuss when the smitten narrates their experiences. It’s never too late to let the feeling show you what you are missing – if you are capable of loving another.