Where Will You Find Love this Valentine's Day?
14 February 2005
Every February we celebrate Valentine’s Day by giving flowers, chocolates and cards to those we love. However, if you are likely to be single this year where will you go to find love? The ‘Valentine’s Report’ from marketing data and intelligence experts EuroDirect shows that if it’s love you’re after, look no further than the North to find your ideal man or woman.
The ‘Valentines Report’ identifies which Post Districts in the UK have the highest proportion of singles, and those in the north of England dominate the top 20. Inner Sheffield (S1) takes 1st place with a staggering 83% of the population being single, divorced or widowed*, closely followed by central Leeds (LS2) with 76%, central Liverpool (L1) with 73%, central Nottingham (NG1) with 72% and central Manchester (M1) with 71%. Only six southern Post Districts (including Birmingham) feature in the top 20 for the highest number of singles, showing the south are luckier in love than their northern counterparts.
Position | Post District | Area | Population | Number of Singles | % (Singles/Population) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | S1 | Sheffield | 2,206 | 1,842 | 83 |
2nd | LS2 | Leeds | 4,463 | 3,381 | 76 |
3rd | L1 | Liverpool | 2,147 | 1,565 | 73 |
4th | NG1 | Nottingham | 3,371 | 2,423 | 72 |
4th | LS3 | Leeds | 2,451 | 1,761 | 72 |
6th | M1 | Manchester | 3,247 | 2,311 | 71 |
6th | WC1V | Westminster | 204 | 145 | 71 |
8th | LS6 | Leeds | 38,870 | 27,158 | 70 |
8th | G2 | Glasgow | 898 | 632 | 70 |
10th | B1 | Birmingham | 2,206 | 1,525 | 69 |
11th | NG7 | Nottingham | 37,926 | 25,769 | 68 |
11th | B2 | Birmingham | 131 | 89 | 68 |
13th | M14 | Manchester | 28,989 | 19,520 | 67 |
13th | M15 | Manchester | 7,303 | 4,886 | 67 |
13th | B4 | Birmingham | 369 | 246 | 67 |
13th | EC3R | London (City) | 136 | 91 | 67 |
17th | NE1 | Newcastle | 3,149 | 2,084 | 66 |
18th | EH1 | Edinburgh | 5,076 | 3,281 | 65 |
18th | M3 | Manchester | 3,326 | 2,177 | 65 |
18th | B3 | Birmingham | 476 | 309 | 65 |
The report reveals that whether you are in the north or the south nearly 200 Post Districts in the UK have over 50% of their populations represented by singles, leaving plenty of opportunity for lonely hearts to find each other this Valentine’s Day.
Many of those living in Scotland are happy in love and have found their match made in heaven, with some of the lowest populations and numbers of singles in the UK. For those that aren’t so lucky, they may have to venture to the central areas of Scotland’s two largest cities to find their valentine. Glasgow (G2) comes in at joint 8th place in the analysis with 70% of the population being single and Edinburgh (EH1) at 18th place with 65%.
John Dobson, Managing Director of EuroDirect comments:
"Our research emphasises EuroDirect’s multi-functionality at providing both accurate, business-focused market analysis, and, on a more light hearted approach, data giving us something of an insight into people’s life stage characteristics. Many single people don’t look forward to this time of year, but using our analysis those who are footloose and fancy free may well be paying a visit to some of these locations to find true love this Valentine’s Day.“
$ EuroDirect is an innovator in the provision of global marketing information and analysis systems. Working closely with some of the world’s largest organisations EuroDirect leads suppliers of targeted consumer lists, sophisticated data management systems, international consumer classifications and advanced GIS software for global market analysis, business modelling and strategic network planning.
* Source: 2001 Census Area Statistics. Census output is Crown copyright and is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. The ‘Singles’ variable is defined as the population aged over 16 living in non-couple and non-family households.
