Valentine’s Day Statistics (2024 Data) and Interesting Facts

What are some of the most intriguing and interesting facts about Valentine’s? How much is spent on Valentine’s Day? Which is the most bought gift on 14th February? Which city spends the most money on gifts?

Valentine’s Day is one of the most celebrated festivals in the United States. People exchange gifts, greeting cards, flowers, candies, clothes, and whatnot. As the Feast of Saint Valentine is near, we will be diving deep into Valentine’s Day statistics in this article.

Get the answers to all these questions and more below. Now without any further ado, let’s get down to business.

Key Valentine’s Day Statistics

• $23.9 billion were spent on Valentine’s Day last year which was a $2B and a 10% increase from 2021.
• Due to inflation, candy prices increased by 12.2% from January 2022 to January 2023.
• Hotels and motels prices increased by 8.5% during the same period.
• On Valentine’s Day, many people indulge in candy, but candy prices increased by 12.2% from January 2022 to January 2023, which is above the overall inflation rate of 6.4% during this period.
• For those planning a romantic getaway, hotels and motels prices increased by 8.5%, also above the inflation rate.
• If you’re going out for drinks with your loved one, be prepared to pay more as prices of drinks consumed outside the home increased by 6.9% again above the inflation rate.
• $175.4 was the average amount spent on Valentine’s Day last year as compared to $164.76 in 2021.
• Men spent twice as much as women last year.
• 28% of people bought gifts from discount stores.
• 41% of people choose online stores for their Valentine’s Day shopping.
• 56% of people bought candy as a gift followed by 40% for greeting cards.
• 47% of people did not plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day in 2022.
• 51% of Americans were comfortable going on their first date on Valentine’s Day.
• Approximately 9 million marriage proposals were made on 14th February 2022.
• 38% of people preferred going to a dinner or movie to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
• San Francisco was the best city to celebrate Valentine’s Day followed by Seattle, Honolulu, Orlando, and San Diego.
• Approximately $2.3 billion were spent on gift cards on Valentine’s Day.
• $6.2 billion were spent on jewelry the last Valentine’s Day making it the most spent-on item in the process as well.
• 76% of Americans felt it was important to celebrate the event in 2022 given the pandemic situation before.
• Price increases driven by inflation on popular Valentine’s Day gifts such as candies, travel, hotels, and drinks may make celebrations more expensive this year.
• Candy prices increased by 12.2% from January 2022 to January 2023.
• Hotels and motels prices increased by 8.5% during the same period.
• Prices of drinks consumed outside the home increased by 6.9%.
• Airline fares increased by over 25% compared to the previous year.

What are 3 Facts About Valentine’s Day?

Before going into more Valentine’s Day statistics details, first, let’s take a look at some exciting Valentine’s Day facts.

Valentine’s Day Began as a Pagan Festival

So, two theories are popular. One believes that Valentine’s Day serves as a memorial to the death of Saint Valentine. The other says it derives from Lupercalia, a Roman festival.

Valentine’s Day Became a Holiday in the 1300s

Valentine’s Day has its origin near the end of the 5th century. However, it wasn’t until the 1300s that people were celebrating it as a day of love. Finally, it was made an official holiday.

Who is Cupid – The Boy With a Bow and Arrow?

Cupid is the little guy often present in Valentine’s Day cards holding a bow and arrow. But where does he come from? The history goes back a long time to 700 B.C. His original name wasn’t Cupid but Eros and he was an immortal and attractive man. The reason he was made a love symbol, later on, was his ability to make people fall in love.

The 1900s saw Eros turning into Cupid and since then he has had this link with Valentine’s Day.

People Exchange Millions of Greeting Cards on The 14th of February

According to Hallmark, a whooping estimate of 145 million greeting cards are exchanged each year on Valentine’s Day.

There’s an Overwhelming Majority Visiting Restaurants on Valentine’s Day

The number of people going to restaurants on 14th February is the 2nd most in the year. Mother’s Day takes the first spot.

Pink and Red are The Most Popular Colors For Valentine’s Day

A report from the National Confectioners Association shows that 65% of Americans believe the packaging of candies and chocolates should be in pink or red on Valentine’s Day.

What Do Americans Spend Their Money on for Valentine’s Day?

Valentine’s Day is one of the most expensive festivals or celebrations of the year in the United States. People spend with their open hearts to express their love to their special ones.

Thousands and thousands of items are bought in America on Valentine’s Day as people spend billions in pursuit. Did you ever wonder what was the most spent-on item on Valentine’s Day? If not, then here are some ground-breaking Valentine’s Day statistics for you from last year.

• $6.2 billion were spent on Jewellery. The most on any item. It was a $2.1 billion upgrade from 2021 and the highest in history.
• $4.3 billion were spent on a good-old Evening-out.
• $2.9 billion were spent on Clothing.
• $2.3 billion were spent on Gift Cards
• $2.3 billion were spent on Flowers.
• $2.2 billion were spent on Candy.
• $1.0 billion were spent on Greeting Cards.

Statistics on Valentine’s Day Spending

How much money is spent on Valentine’s Day by each gender? How much spending is done by different age groups? Which city spends the most? And so on.

Here we will show all Valentine’s Day Statistics for spending in 2022.

Valentine’s Day spending by Gender

• Men spent 2x more than women in 2022.
• Men spent $235 on average on Valentine’s Day.
• Women spent $119 on average on Valentine’s Day.
• Husbands spent $106 on average on their wives. It is 1.6x more than what wives spend on their husbands.

Valentine’s Day Spending By Age

• $170 per average was spent by the age group of 18-24.
• $240 per average was spent by the age group of 25-34.
• $280 per average was spent by the age group of 35-44.
• $171 per average was spent by the age group of 45-54.
• $119 per average was spent by the age group of 55-64.
• $87 per average was spent by the age group of 65+.

Which City Spends The Most Money On Valentine’s Day?

• Los Angeles spends $1316.16 on Valentine’s Day. The most by any American city.
• New York spends $1056.66.
• San Francisco spends $1020.88.
• Boston spends $979.64.
• Washington spends $952.9.

What Do People Spend The Most Money On for Valentine’s Day?

• $45.75 was the per-person spending on Jewellery.
• $31.35 was the per-person spending on an Evening-out.
• $21.46 was the per-person spending on Clothing.
• $17.22 was the per-person spending on Gift Cards.
• $17.22 was the per-person spending on Flowers.
• $15.90 was the per-person spending on Candy.
• $7.47 was the per-person spending on Greeting Cards.

Who Spends More – Men or Women?

Men certainly spend a lot more than women on Valentine’s Day. In 2022, the difference was almost twice as big. Men spent $235 on average as compared to $119 for women.

What is the Most Sold Item on Valentine’s Day?

• 56% of people bought Candy on Valentine’s Day.
• 40% of people bought Greeting Cards.
• 37% of people bought Flowers.
• 22% of people bought Clothing.
• 22% of people bought Jewelry.
• 21% of people bought Gift Cards.

How Many Roses are Sold on Valentine’s Day?

Roses are the ultimate signal of love for a long time. Therefore, it is the reason they are the most bought flowers on Valentine’s Day. Statistics show that over 250 million roses are produced just for Valentine’s Day itself. Doesn’t that say a lot?

Here are the most interesting Valentine’s Day statistics about roses.

• People buy the most flowers on Valentine’s day.
• 37% of the items bought last Valentine’s Day was a flower.
• $2.3 billion was spent on flowers on Valentine’s Day.
• 28% of adults including 37% of men and 19% of women would buy a flower on Valentine’s Day in 2019.
• Adults buy roses:
  • 52% for their spouse
  • 24% for significant others
  • 23% buy for mothers
  • 15% for children
  • 12% buy for their friends
  • 9% for themselves
  • 16% for other relatives.
• Following roses are the most popular on Valentine’s Day:
  • Red roses – 69%
  • White roses – 38%
  • Pink roses – 37%
  • Mixed color of roses – 31%
  • Yellow roses – 29%
  • Peach or Coral roses – 28%
  • Purple or Lavender roses – 26%
  • Orange roses – 20%

How Many People Buy Their Pets a Gift on Valentine’s Day?

People surely don’t forget about their pets on Valentine’s Day. This is indeed the reason over $2.1 billion was spent on gifts for pets in 2021. In addition, this was a 185.3% ($1.39 billion) increase from 2020. Mostly, the pets were cats and dogs. They are the most popular pets around the world so it was unsurprising.

Nevertheless, here are Valentine’s Day statistics for pets’ gifts.

• 16.1% of adults would buy a gift for their dog.
• 12.3% of adults would buy a gift for their cat.
• $31.24 per household was spent on dogs.
• $27.42 per household was spent on cats.
• Men would spend $33.62 and $26.80 on average on dogs and cats, respectively.
• Women would spend $27.54 and $28.36 on average on dogs and cats, respectively.

What is the Most Popular Chocolate Sold on Valentine’s Day?

To clarify, there isn’t any data about the specific chocolate that was the most popular or most sold. Nevertheless, we have the list of the most searched chocolate brands and certainly, many of them would have been on the list for Valentine’s as well.

So, here are the most popular chocolate brands for Valentine’s Day.

• Lindt
• Godiva
• Ghirardelli
• Hershey
• Dove
• Ferrero
• Neuhaus
• Russell Stover
• Nestle
• Palmer

How Many Couples Will Get Engaged on Valentine’s Day?

The number is not staggering but it is surely a big chunk of the people. To illustrate, about 10% of couples choose Valentine’s Day as their day of engagement. In short, they make 6+ million people.

Following are some more Valentine’s Day statistics about proposals and relationships.

• 6 million people got engaged on Valentine’s Day in 2013.
• 9 million marriage proposals were made on Valentine’s Day.
• 48% of Americans think it is romantic to propose on Valentine’s Day.
• More than 1 million people on Facebook change their relationship status within four days of Valentine’s Day.
• There is a 33% increase in online dating from the 1st to the 14th of February in America.

What Percentage of The World Celebrates Valentine’s Day?

Even though a few countries don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, a large majority of countries do.

So how likely are you to celebrate Valentine’s Day in the following countries? Let’s find out in the following list.

• Global Country Average – 55%
• United States – 75%
• South Africa – 74%
• Peru – 69%
• Chile – 67%
• India – 67%
• Turkey – 65%
• Mexico – 65%
• Poland – 64%
• China – 62%
• Argentina – 60%
• Canada – 59%
• Great Britain – 59%
• Sweden – 59%
• Italy – 56%
• Belgium – 55%
• Brazil – 55%
• Australia – 54%
• France – 54%
• Spain – 54%
• Colombia – 52%
• Malaysia – 50%
• Hungary – 44%
• Japan – 43%
• Russia – 43%
• Saudi Arabia – 41%
• Germany – 34%
• South Korea – 33%
• The Netherlands – 32%

Which Country Has Banned Valentine’s Day?

As much as the world loves celebrating, there are certain countries where you can’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. While the reasons are different. Evidently, they range from religious, to moral, to cultural. Though, only a few countries are opposing the celebration.

So, here are the countries where Valentine’s Day is banned.

1. Saudi Arabia

Of course, Saudi Arabia tops the list. They prohibit the celebration of Valentine’s Day as because goes against the law of the land. Furthermore, prison might be waiting for you if you celebrate. However, still many people do it secretly.

2. Indonesia

Although there are no official laws prohibiting the celebration, the festival is still opposed by many due to their religious beliefs. Since Indonesia has the state religion of Islam, they don’t believe in celebrating pagan festivals.

3. Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan celebrates the birthday of Babur, the Mughal Emperor instead of Valentine’s Day. The latter was tolerable until 2012. However, the majority discourages it now.

4. Pakistan

Another Muslim-majority country on the list. Pakistan banned the celebrations of Valentine’s Day in 2018. It was because the festival didn’t comply with the country’s constitution.

5. Malaysia

Valentine’s Day has been banned in Malaysia since 2005 after a religious ruling was given against it. Moreover, there are anti-valentine’s Day protests in the country every year as well.

6. Iran

Not only is Valentine’s Day banned in Iran, but also the production of its gifts and items.

Sources

• Statista
• National Retail Federation
• Society of American Florists
• Hallmark
• RestaurantBusinessOnline
• National Confectioners Association
• Finder
• WalletHub
• Ipsos
• Business Insider
• WomensDay
• History