Dating in Norway is a dead end

[Keeves1]

Hey! 

I’m just done with dating in Oslo… I just see no point doing this when nothing turns out good. I’ve either already met my love of my life who is now my ex or I’m just that unlucky with the Girls I go on a date with. I’ve been to 3 dates from December to now wheres the recent one with Juniper did not work out because of no common interest and not matching my vibe. 

And no its not because I’m ugly. I think I’m an average looking guy. I’ve been to alot of dates and the girls I match with I do find them more cute rather than pretty. Last time I had sex was in December. She wanted to keep things going but I did not due to the fact that I could not see myself being in a relationship with her and culture clash etc.

I’ve been on dating event called «smingle» where the host is setting up which day, time and location and we need to show up and just talk with the ladies. There is activity involved such as pool, dart, shuffleboard and wine testing for people there to connect and find common interest. One ticket cost 35 $ and I’ve been spending  106$ by attending 3 events that they host and you know what? No match!! Speaking from experience the girls that are there are just attending the event to have fun but nothing more 🤷‍♂️ 

I’ve tried to join a pokemon trading card group where I can meet people and battle them or trade pokemon cards with them. Saw one cute girl and I made my move but she had a BF.

I’ve been to night bars with friends and partying in the weekends but the outcome is just one night stand. 

I’ve asked my friend from school if she wanted to date but she said she ain’t ready to date because she just became single after a breakup. 

As you can see I’ve tried everything I could come up with but nothing. No wonder why there is so much loneliness in Norway and people being single. 
 

• https://www.ssb.no/befolkning/barn-familier-og-husholdninger/statistikk/familier-og-husholdninger/artikler/1-av-5-bor-alene

- Here is a link where we can see the stats about how many people are single altough it’s written in Norwegian here it is in English

In English: 

As of the beginning of 2022, 1,027,900 individuals in Norway were living alone, accounting for 19.1% of the population. This marks an increase of 0.3 percentage points compared to the previous year, when the number of people living alone surpassed 1 million for the first time.

In 2021, Norway had over 2.5 million households, with 40.4% consisting of just one person. The average household size has been gradually decreasing, from 2.17 persons in 2018 to 2.12 in 2021. This trend is attributed to an increase in single-person households and a decline in households with three or more members.

Living alone is most common among individuals in their early 20s and those over 58. For both genders, it’s typical to live alone in the early 20s before many form partnerships later. Approximately 40% of women live alone at age 21, but this percentage decreases through their 20s and 30s as many start families. The proportion increases again after age 40. For men, about 20% live alone in their early 40s, and this rate remains stable until it rises after age 80. Factors such as relationship breakdowns and longer life expectancy in women contribute to these patterns.

Oslo has the highest proportion of individuals living alone, with one in four residents doing so. However, recent data suggests that this trend may be stabilizing in the capital. The increase was only 0.1 percentage points compared to the previous year, following a 0.5 percentage point rise from 2020 to 2021. It’s too early to determine if this indicates a new trend, and the reasons for this plateau are not yet clear.

Overall, the proportion of the population living alone has been gradually increasing in recent years.

 

Thanks for being here and for taking your time to listen to my yapping session. Dating in Norway is 💀

Edited Saturday at 01:18 AM by Keeves1
Correcting some words

[Gaeta]

How long did you think this would take?  You only started dating early 2024 and you're ready to give up? That's it? That's all you've got?

I live in a place where 50% of the population live alone, that did not discourage me from finding someone. I searched better, harder, wiser. It took me close to 2 years to find my bf, my relationship before that, 3 years.

C'mon! Get back on your horse and continue searching. 

 

Edited Saturday at 01:22 AM by Gaeta

[Gebidozo]

Sorry dude, but your post makes no sense at all.

You first mention 2 or 3 girls you either rejected right away or had sex with and then didn’t want to have a relationship.

Then you describe some forced, overdone, and frankly a bit desperately sounding attempts to find dates and sex at all costs.

Then you suddenly come to the strange conclusion that “dating in Norway is a dead end”. How does that follow from what you just described? You had a girlfriend. You had dates with multiple ladies. You had sex 2 months ago, and you’re single. I know people who live without sex for years. What are you complaining about?

Then you try to prove your point with statistics that tell us there are more single people and more people living alone nowadays (not just in Norway, but in most Western countries). Well… yeah. But hasn’t it occurred to you that some people might just prefer to live that way? Or that living separately doesn’t preclude from being in a loving relationship?

Sorry if I sound aggressive, but to be honest it irks me every time someone whines about “dead dating” and such, while themselves having loads of choices and being picky with them. There is nothing wrong with taking your time to choose, but it’s a remarkable twist of logic to view this as something negative and something caused by “dead dating”, or blame the entire opposite gender for that (I know you didn’t, not talking about you specifically, just ranting generally).

Someone living in a place where marriages are arranged and you aren’t allowed to date normally at all, unable to have sex before marriage, where young girls can’t go out but with their father and brothers accompanying them - now if that person described that situation as “dead dating”, I’d agree.

Again, sorry for the rant, but… come on, dude. Things ain’t as bad as that. Cheer up and keep trying. 

 

 

[Interstellar]

Same in the United States my friend and very much much the same in New York. But consider yourself lucky to even get matches on dating apps. 

Edited Saturday at 12:12 PM by Interstellar

[Keeves1]

17 hours ago, Gebidozo said:

Sorry dude, but your post makes no sense at all.

You first mention 2 or 3 girls you either rejected right away or had sex with and then didn’t want to have a relationship.

Then you describe some forced, overdone, and frankly a bit desperately sounding attempts to find dates and sex at all costs.

Then you suddenly come to the strange conclusion that “dating in Norway is a dead end”. How does that follow from what you just described? You had a girlfriend. You had dates with multiple ladies. You had sex 2 months ago, and you’re single. I know people who live without sex for years. What are you complaining about?

Then you try to prove your point with statistics that tell us there are more single people and more people living alone nowadays (not just in Norway, but in most Western countries). Well… yeah. But hasn’t it occurred to you that some people might just prefer to live that way? Or that living separately doesn’t preclude from being in a loving relationship?

Sorry if I sound aggressive, but to be honest it irks me every time someone whines about “dead dating” and such, while themselves having loads of choices and being picky with them. There is nothing wrong with taking your time to choose, but it’s a remarkable twist of logic to view this as something negative and something caused by “dead dating”, or blame the entire opposite gender for that (I know you didn’t, not talking about you specifically, just ranting generally).

Someone living in a place where marriages are arranged and you aren’t allowed to date normally at all, unable to have sex before marriage, where young girls can’t go out but with their father and brothers accompanying them - now if that person described that situation as “dead dating”, I’d agree.

Again, sorry for the rant, but… come on, dude. Things ain’t as bad as that. Cheer up and keep trying. 

 

 

Yo! Nah you’re good 🙌 I appreciate your honestly and I needed to read that! Well the reason why I came to conclusion that dating for me is a dead end is because I’m so unlucky but looking back at it I’m just picky. 
 

 

[Keeves1]

17 hours ago, Gaeta said:

How long did you think this would take?  You only started dating early 2024 and you're ready to give up? That's it? That's all you've got?

I live in a place where 50% of the population live alone, that did not discourage me from finding someone. I searched better, harder, wiser. It took me close to 2 years to find my bf, my relationship before that, 3 years.

C'mon! Get back on your horse and continue searching. 

 

Thank you Gaeta for keeping me motivated 💎 I will try and still search for it!

[Maldives]

Try 8 years of searching lol. I'm lucky if I get 2 dates a year but I never give up on the prospect of finding someone special again as it is a beautiful experience and what we are all seeking, love and companionship. 

[BaileyB]

It amuses me how you think finding a life partner is as easy as putting up a profile on a dating site and meeting a few different women…

As if we could all be so lucky as to find someone compatible within the first few dates/months…

[Foxhall]

22 hours ago, Keeves1 said:

As of the beginning of 2022, 1,027,900 individuals in Norway were living alone, accounting for 19.1% of the population.

thats a sizeable enough number isnt it,

It definitely appears less and less people are just settling nowadays- they are opting to remain alone rather than entering or staying in relationships which are not really working for them,

From a guys perspective he has to be sharp enough in the current climate if he wants to land a desirable partner- we cannot be lazy and expect one to just fall in our laps,

Probably if we read too much on forums and various sources about what women expect this that and the other - a guy needs to be good looking, have plenty of money,  a decent job, be intellectually stimulating , have a good sense of humour, drive a fancy car, have his own house, have his own friends, then at the same time have no bad habits.

The other side of things is that there will be a kindred spirit out there somewhere whom we fall in love with and who transcends all those box ticking items that I alluded to above,

(Personally I did find my kindred spirit,  but for the time being anyway shes chosen the independent route, that she is perfectly happy with building her own life and not needing me)

that is fair enough I guess but Ill not give up just yet)

I think your at an earlier stage of life to me so no need to be feeling overly heavy about things just yet, go with the flow and it will likely all come together for you.

its not easy out there or anywhere really all of this but trying to reach and portray the best versions of ourselves is likely all we can do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gebidozo]

33 minutes ago, Foxhall said:

It definitely appears less and less people are just settling nowadays- they are opting to remain alone rather than entering or staying in relationships which are not really working for them

Precisely, and this applies particularly to women. As the pressure on women to get married and have kids lessens, so does their tolerance of mediocre guys who’d they probably be with in the older times because the mantra back then was “you gotta be with someone, anyone, just not alone”.

So yes, it’s harder to find a life partner nowadays; but it’s not harder to find a good life partner, a “kindred spirit”, as you say, because that has always been hard.

 

40 minutes ago, Foxhall said:

a guy needs to be good looking, have plenty of money,  a decent job, be intellectually stimulating , have a good sense of humour, drive a fancy car, have his own house, have his own friends, then at the same time have no bad habits.

Well, I never owned a car (I can’t even drive), never owned a house, am just okay looking, and had very little money when I was younger, yet somehow I still managed to find multiple women with whom mutual attraction occurred, leading to a long-term romantic relationship. I’d say that intellectual stimulation and a sense of humor are fairly important, but in the long run, a strong sense of the ethical and an interest in the spiritual facet of life can be very powerful as well.

I also think it’s more the passion for your job that attracts women, not necessarily the fact of having a decent job. Several women have told me they find it hugely attractive and sometimes nearly irresistible when a guy is crazy about what he does in life, when he sees his work as his calling, something he truly loves and strives to be great at. 

[basil67]

I like data  

On 2/8/2025 at 12:12 PM, Keeves1 said:

Here is a link where we can see the stats about how many people are single altough it’s written in Norwegian here it is in English

Your link does not give stats on the amount of people who are single.  Instead, it gives stats on who is living alone.  These are two different things.   People can be in a relationship and still live alone (likely because they aren't ready or able to cohabitate because of reasons).   And people who are not in a relationship can be living with others (parents/friends/flatmates found in the classifieds)

That technicality aside, am I correct in understanding that you're asserting high numbers of single people as evidence that there's a dating crisis?  But surely the opposite would be true:  If there are large numbers of single people, then you've got more to choose from.   But if there are low numbers of single people, then you've got less to choose from

 

 

[Miss Chrysalis]

How old are you?

Are you on the autism spectrum?

[Alvi]

It took me almost four years to find a partner. Sure,  I could've found someone a lot sooner but I didn't want to settle for someone subpar.  It takes time and tons and tons of effort to find a partner. You have to be more proactive and get involved in activities and things around you. Don't sit and wait for someone to just come into your life. You are getting first dates, or so it seems. Some men can't even get a single date so you are way ahead of them. You need to figure out how to turn a first date into a second date and a third date.  But keep going, you are on a right track.

[Els]

I don't think there is any place in the world where you can find a compatible partner whom you find attractive and vice versa in 2 months...

Fewer people living together doesn't mean that fewer people are interested in dating. It's likely that people are just not taking the step to cohabitation or marriage that quickly. Especially considering that they mentioned that these stats were highest for people in their 20s, it makes sense that an economically and socially developed country would have high numbers of 20+ yos living independently. I would say that it's the healthiest thing to do.

FWIW, the countries with the highest marriage rates in the world aren't actually good for dating. Unless you're happy to have your parents pick a girl for you to marry at 23 regardless of whether you find her pretty or even "cute", that is.

Edited Monday at 06:08 PM by Els