One in four Australians would celebrate Valentine's Day within a month of dating someone

With Valentine’s Day this week, and 62% of Australians in exclusive relationships (including marriage), love is well and truly in the air.

Almost one in four Australians (24%) have said that they would be open to celebrating Valentine’s Day with someone they’d been dating for less than a month.

27% of Australians would ideally celebrate once they’d been dating someone for 2-5 months, 15% 6-11 months, and 12% after a year.

However, despite a notable number of Aussies indicating they’d celebrate Valentine’s Day with someone that they’d known for four weeks, 60% of Australians said that they would not be celebrating this year, whether they were in a relationship or not.

Millennials were by far the most likely to celebrate with a partner, at 42%. Distantly following were Gen Z at 28%, Gen X at 24%, Baby Boomers at 16%, and the Silent Generation at 15%.

Almost half of Aussies (47%) also said they would not be upset if their partner forgot about Valentine’s Day. Only 28% of Australians agreed that they would be upset if their partner forgot.

The allure of exchanging gifts also seems to be wearing off for this day, with only one in four (26%) of Aussies agreeing this was an important part of the celebration.

Men were more inclined to want to exchange gifts than women, with 34% agreeing this was an important part; compared to 20% of women.

For comparison, Australians were more inclined to have sex (34%), and meet each other’s friends (28%), than celebrate Valentine’s Day within the span of a month.

When it comes to other relationship milestones, YouGov’s insights revealed that Australian men were more inclined than women to pull the trigger and take that next step within the first month of a relationship.

Men were slightly more likely to want to celebrate with someone they’d been dating for a month (26%) than women (22%).

Comparatively, 43% of men would have sex with their new partner in under a month, compared to just 25% of women. 21% of men would also say ‘I love you’ within a month, compared to just 8% of women.

In this timeframe, men were also more likely to introduce a new partner to their friends (33%) and close family (13%) compared to women (23% and 5% respectively).

For more ‘serious’ milestones, most Australians indicated that they would want to wait at least one to three years. This includes; moving in together (30% of men, 46% of women), buying a home together (29% men, 31% women), getting engaged (46% men, 54% women), getting married (34% men, 44% women), and having a baby (27% men, 30% women).

Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provides quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. This study was conducted online in January 2024, with a national sample of 1,020 Australian residents, using a questionnaire designed by YouGov. Data figures have been weighted by age, gender, and ethnicity to be representative of all adults in Australia (18 years or older). Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.