Valentine’s Day spending statistics 2020

Change over time

4 in 5 Brits (79%) plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day in 2020, up from 69% in 2018. We’ll also be spending more on average this year, with the average spend of £35 per person being a 23% increase (£7) from £28 in 2018. However, more of us plan on celebrating without spending any money – 18% will do so in 2020, compared to 16% in 2018.

Gender

Of those who will celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, men look to be the bigger spenders. Guys plan to spend around £44 on average, compared to £26 for women. Men were also almost 3 times more likely to spend serious cash, with 9% planning to spend more than £100. Only 4% of women planned to spend the same.

Ladies are more likely to be celebrating Valentine’s Day without spending any money, with 20% of female respondents planning on leaving the wallet behind on 14 February, compared to 16% of men. The same percentage of men and women (21%) reported they would not be celebrating Valentine’s Day this year.

Location

London is the UK’s most romantically minded city, or at least its biggest-spending, with those in the capital planning on spending £52 on average this Valentine’s Day.

At the other end of the scale, the South West of England has the lowest average spend at £28. Those in the South West must be hoping the Beatles maxim that money can’t buy you love holds true, with 22% planning on celebrating Valentine’s Day but not paying a penny to do so.

The East Midlands is the region with the most people who won’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, with 26% of residents reporting that they won’t be celebrating the day at all. Those in Northern Ireland are the most likely to be out and about on 14 February, with 87% planning on celebrating Valentine’s Day this year.

Age

Millennials will be the UK’s highest-spending generation this Valentine’s Day, forking out £42 on average on their loved ones. This is followed by gen X (£38), baby boomers (£30) and gen Z (£27).

The silent generation are the lowest spenders, averaging £12. They’re are also the least likely to celebrate Valentine’s Day, with only 58% planning on doing so. But the silent generation are also the most likely to celebrate without spending any money (30%), followed by baby boomers (21%) and millennials (17%).

• Previous research: Valentine's Day statistics 2018

  The day of love is fast approaching on 14 February, with many of us celebrating by spending money on our significant others, beloved pets and even ourselves. It’s safe to say that Valentine’s Day has grown to become a special day all over the world. But, how much does the day really cost – and just who are we shelling out for this 14 February?

  Who’s spending money on Valentine’s Day 2018?

  More than 22 million Brits are gearing up to spend money on their loved ones this Valentine’s Day, totalling to 52.8% of us. In opposition to this, 31.2% of us won’t be celebrating Valentine’s Day this year and 16% plan to celebrate but not spend anything. Out of those celebrating Valentine’s, each person is estimated to spend an average of £28.45. People are most likely to spend within £1–£10 (15.3%).

  

  Gender

  Women are more likely to be spending nothing (18.7%) compared to men (13.2%). They’re also more likely to be spending less, with 19.3% of women dropping between £1 and £10, compared to only 11.2% of men. Men are more likely to be dropping the bigger amounts – they’re 3 times more likely than women to spend more than £201 (men at 1.22%, women at 0.39%).

  • Gender differences
  • Table

  Spend	Female	Male
  £0	18.68%	13.22%
  £1-£10	19.27%	11.19%
  £11-£20	11.21%	8.85%
  £21-£40	10.03%	9.66%
  £41-£60	4.82%	11.09%
  £61-£80	1.97%	5.19%
  £81-£100	1.57%	4.27%
  £101-£150	0.69%	3.05%
  £151-£200	0.59%	0.71%
  £201+	0.39%	1.22%
  Won't be celebrating	30.78%	31.54%

  Generation

  Valentine’s Day seems to transcend generation, with a near equal amount of millennials (68.8%), gen X (69.3%) and baby boomers (68.4%) planning to celebrate it. Baby boomers are most likely to celebrate it while not spending (20.1%), followed by millennials (16.2%) and gen X (11.2%). On average, gen X are spending the most (£33.94), followed by millennials (£25.75) and baby boomers (£25.47).

  Region

  Those in Yorkshire and the Humber are the loneliest, with 37.3% planning on not celebrating Valentine’s Day this year. This is followed by the West Midlands (35.5%) and East Midlands (33.3%). On the other hand, Londoners are the most likely to be celebrating Valentine’s Day this year (73.5%), followed by Northern Ireland (73.2%).

  Who are we spending money on?

  As for who we’re spending our money on, most people are planning to treat their wife or husband (59.6%), followed by their boyfriend or girlfriend (28.2%) and then their children (4.7%). The next most likely candidate is pet dogs, with 4.5% of Brits planning on doting on their pups.

  Cats, on the other hand, get less love than their doggy-counterparts – only 3% of Brits plan to spend money on them. That ends up being 3.1 million Brits who are showering their pets with love this Valentine’s Day. There’s even 2.1% who are spending it on themselves!

  Gender

  Women are much more likely to spend money on their kids on Valentine’s Day (8.2%) compared to men (1.5%). Women are also more likely to celebrate Valentine’s Day by treating themselves than men (2.5% compared with 1.7%).

  Generation

  Millennials are the most likely to spend money on their cat or dog (8.7%), followed by gen X (7.4%) and baby boomers (4.1%). Millennials are over twice as likely to treat themselves on Valentine’s Day at 3.5%, compared to 1.3% of gen X and 1.1% of baby boomers.

  • Generational differences
  • Table

  On who	Millennial	Gen X	Baby boomer
  Wife/Husband	25.58%	55.00%	78.75%
  Boyfriend/Girlfriend	46.22%	19.57%	13.35%
  Pet dog	4.94%	4.13%	3.00%
  Pet cat	3.78%	3.26%	1.09%
  Friends	5.52%	1.30%	2.18%
  Kids	2.91%	6.30%	3.00%
  Other family members	3.20%	1.74%	1.91%
  Myself	3.49%	1.30%	1.09%

  Unwanted gifts: Valentine’s Day edition

  While 50% of the population rarely, if ever, receive Valentine’s Day gifts, there are 9.7 million of us who have received a gift they didn’t like. That’s 46.8% of those who do receive Valentine’s Day gifts that don’t like them. On the other hand, 53.2% of us who receive gifts always like them – a much happier lot than the 13.8% who, out of the gifts they’ve received, have never received one they’ve liked.

  • Unwanted gifts
  • Table

  How often	Percentage
  Most years	36.2%
  Some years	28.3%
  I've never received a Valentine's Day gift that I've liked	20.3%
  I always like the gifts I receive for Valentine's Day	9.1%

  Gender

  Of those who receive gifts on Valentine’s, men are more likely to not like them (52.6%) than women (41.4%). Men are also less likely to receive Valentine’s Day gifts in the first place, with 51.1% of all UK men saying they rarely, if ever, get a gift they like, compared with 49% of women.

  Generation

  Surprisingly, of those who receive gifts, millennials are most likely to not like their Valentine’s Day present (52.5%) compared with a close 52.3% of gen X and 34.4% of baby boomers. Baby boomers are the most unlikely to receive a Valentine’s Day gift, with 59.1% saying they rarely, if ever, receive a gift, compared with 45.4% of millennials and 43.7% of gen X.

  Who celebrates a belated Valentine’s Day?

  Celebrating Valentine’s Day after 14 February has become surprisingly popular – 7.9 million (19%) Brits plan to have a belated Valentine’s Day to get better value. That’s one in five of us! Interestingly, more women (20.5%) have celebrated Valentine’s Day after 14 February to get better value when compared to men (17.5%).

  Generation

  Generation-wise, the younger you are, the more likely you’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day after 14 February to save money. Over 1 in 4 millennials (25.6%) admit to professing their love late, followed by 22% of gen X and 11.5% of baby boomers.

  Income

  Interestingly, the more you earn, the more likely you’ll have celebrated Valentine’s Day late to save your money. 17.2% of those earning between £0 and £35,000 have celebrated late, compared to the 22.2% of those earning £35,001+, on average.

  Region

  As for the region, Londoners have celebrated Valentine’s Day after 14 February the most out of all regions (23.1%). Those residing in the East Midlands are hot on their tail at 22.5%, followed by those in the South West (20%). In contrast, those residing in Wales are the least likely to profess their love late to stretch their pound further (13%), followed by those in Northern Ireland (14.3%) and those in the North West (16.5%).

  Methodology

  Finder commissioned Onepoll on 21-23 January 2020 to carry out a nationally representative survey of adults aged 18+.
  A total of 2,000 people were questioned throughout Great Britain, with representative quotas for gender, age and region

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Matt Mckenna
Head of UK communications
T: +44 20 8191 8806