Civil services, law enforcement: Survey by matchmaking platform reveals the preferences of Indian millennials

Matchmaking platform Shaadi.com has conducted a survey on what is desirable and what's not in a potential spouse. The base of the study varies from different factors like profession, age, income and location. The study emphasises factors that affect the desirability of an individual with the context of finding a life partner. 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 1, 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.
Key highlights from the study include that 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+ pa are 190% more desired, whereas women making 30L+ pa are 17% 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. 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 two times more desired as compared to men in other professions, whereas women in aviation are 47% more desired vs women in other professions. Both unemployed men and women are the least desired. The average age of starting the matchmaking journey has gone up by two years in the past decade, with men’s age going up by 2.5 years and women’s by one year. Working women receive more love, while non-working women are 31% less desired vs average, breaking the myth of Indian men seeking home-makers.