Shaadi.com Reveals What Indian Millennial Men, Women Look For In Life Partners

India’s matchmaking platform, Shaadi.com, has presented first-ever edition of India’s Most Eligible. The edition has insightful and intriguing facts about what is desirable and what's not, in a potential spouse. The study further emphasises factors that affect the desirability of an individual with the context of finding a life partner.

Key findings of the potentials people find in their life partners are:

• Government jobs still rule the roost - India’s most eligible female is a Law Enforcement Officer, while India’s most eligible male works in the Civil Services. 

• Financial independence is important among men and women - Men making 30L+ p.a. are 190 per cent more desired, whereas women making 30L+ p.a. are 17 per cent more desired.

• Age hits men first - Contrary to popular narratives, age hits men harder in matchmaking and men after the age of 34-35 years find it hard to find matches.

• There are over 6,500 active members on Shaadi.com, who are aged 60+ years and are keen to give love a second chance. In fact, the oldest members on Shaadi.com are 79 years (male) and 72 years (female).

• Jobs in civil services and tech are most desired among men, while aviation professionals and architects are most desired among women. Men in civil services and tech are 2x more desired as compared to men in other professions, whereas women in aviation are 47 per cent more desired vs women in other professions.

• Both unemployed men and women are the least desired.

• Increase in average age of singles seeking matchmaking - The average age of starting the matchmaking journey has gone up by 2 years in the past decade, with men’s age going up by 2.5 years and women’s by 1 year.

• Working women receive more love - Non-working women are 31 per cent less desired vs average, breaking the myth of Indian men seeking home-makers.

So, who makes the cut to India’s Most Eligible? 

Expanding on the findings, Adhish Zaveri, AVP Marketing, People Interactive said, “This study indicates that as a nation, while we’re moving in the right direction for gender equality in marriages, we still have a long way to go in terms of truly balanced relationships. Who we find desirable is really the first point of establishing what this equation would look like after the shaadi and the insights we’ve uncovered in this study are an honest reflection of India’s view on desirability in the context of finding a life partner. Aspects such as higher desirability for working women and specifically those with higher income, are early indicators that we are making important strides in bringing and retaining women in the workforce.”

The study has been built on a sample base of 2.5 million members (of which 1.6 million are males and 0.9 million females) who were active on Shaadi.com from Dec 01, 2021 to Dec 31, 2022 and is based on a per day data. The participants of the study are exclusively Indians, who have been active members on the platform for at least a week in the last 12 months, making the findings most relevant and specific to the current time.