Total of £3.4bn spent looking for love

Single people looking for love spend almost £3.4 billion on dates every year, splashing cash on clothes and expensive restaurants, according to a new study.

Some 37 million dates happen each year and singletons spend an average of £47 each on every encounter, the survey of more than 2,000 people by dating company Match found.

The quest for the perfect partner costs single people an average of £1,107 a year, with daters collectively spending more than £1.3bn on entertainment, bars and restaurants and more than £860 million on new clothes for dates, the research found. They spend £421m a year on transport and £324m in hair salons, with the average singleton spending just over £100 every year getting their hair done for a date, the LoveGeist survey found.

They also spend an average of £120 a year on cosmetics and contraceptives.