New Delhi,
India: Gleeden, the world’s largest
extramarital dating app, made by women for women, recently achieved the
milestone of acquiring 3 million users in India. Launched in India in 2017,
Gleeden has been highly popularized in the Indian market to become the go-to platform
for individuals looking for discreet extramarital affairs. To celebrate this
achievement, Gleeden conducted a nationwide survey, to understand the
continuously changing status of relationships, focusing on how GenZ,
Millennials and GenX individuals feel about love and marriage.
This is the third survey of its kind that has been
conducted by one of the leading global market research organizations, IPSOS, on
behalf of Gleeden and focuses on love, marriage, and infidelity trends among
three generations who have deeply embedded India’s socio-cultural thinking in
themselves. The survey was conducted
among 1,510 individuals, both men and women, who are aged between 18-60 years
and living in 12 tier-1 Indian cities (Delhi, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Kolkata, Patna,
Guwahati, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bangalore, Hyderabad & Kochi), and
tier-2 cities (Jaipur, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Gurugram, Indore, Noida, Surat,
Nagpur, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal)
The focus of
the study was to understand the changing perception of infidelity among GenZ,
Millennials and GenX, and the emerging trends that are changing their
understanding of love & marriages.
“At Gleeden, we
have always felt that emotional fulfillment and the freedom to make a choice is
central to any connection that matters. This survey reinforces what we have
seen on our platform – Indians of all ages are beginning to challenge tradition
and seek relationships that fit their changing emotional realities. As the
conversations around love, intimacy, and loyalty are changing, Gleeden is
slowly becoming the go-to safe & non-judgmental space for individuals to
understand and embrace societal changes in an authentic way, and on their own
terms.” says Sybil Shiddell, Country
Manager, Gleeden India
The survey paints a detailed description of how Indians
perceive relationships and the challenges these have to face in order stay
healthy and happy, including infidelity, and how the different generations have
been shifting opinion and mindsets over the past few years. It revealed that 33% of the total respondents feel that work-life
balance and lack of quality time with family is a major challenge that leads
them towards infidelity. The millennials (42%) make up the major part of these
respondents, who are interestingly also part of the current workforce, whereas
GenX (27%) and GenZ (31%) respondents also provide major backing in this
aspect.
Despite affirming to feel very happy and sexually
satisfied in their current relationships, over half of the total respondents (51%), say that they lack any emotional connection
with their partners, whereas 42% and 38% respectively highlight that lack of
excitement & thrill, and physical intimacy is why they are indulging in
infidelity. The GenX (55%) are the major
voices who do not have any emotional connection with their partners, whereas
49% of GenZ say that they are not satisfied with the physical intimacy that
they have currently. 54% of GenX respondents say that they frequently have
thoughts of exploring connections beyond their relationships, with 44% of GenZ
and 39% of millennials having the same opinion.
Furthermore, the
survey also reveals that both men (43%) and women (42%) have not stopped there,
and therefore engaged in either physical and emotional infidelity Out of them,
GenX (52%) leads the charts in having been part of both emotional and physical
infidelity, followed by GenZ (41%) and Millennials (36%). The studies also
reveal that 62% of millennials are more receptive to understanding the reason
behind infidelity before making any decisions, followed by GenZ (50%), instead
of looking to end the relationship abruptly.
Additionally, the study shows that Indians today are more
receptive towards using infidelity as a tool to stay emotionally fulfilled in a
relationship. 58% of the respondents say
that they are open to infidelity if it helped them stay emotionally fulfilled,
whereas 45% are of the opinion that it could also reignite passion in stagnant
marriages. Overall, a staggering 45% believe that infidelity can sometimes save
a relationship, out of which 47% are married individuals. 50% of GenX
respondents also reveal that humankind is not made for monogamy, with 41% of
the GenZ and 37% of Millennials sharing the same opinion. 63% of GenX and
Millennials also reiterated that societal pressure forces people to stay
monogamous, while 59% of the GenZ share the same opinion.
But the most
striking finding from this part of the research is that men and women share
virtually identical views on the subject: 62% of women and 61% of men believe
that humans are not wired for monogamy — a model ultimately imposed by
centuries of ossified social norms.” Overall, 61% of the respondents agree on
this aspect, highlighting societal pressure as a major decision-maker in
Indians’ relationships.
Finally, 41% of the
respondents revealed that they are receptive to their partners suggesting an
open relationship, while 35% admitted that they are already part of one. 68% of
the respondents also pointed towards social media as the major enabler of
infidelity, citing that it offers more opportunities. 64% of the respondents
also admitted that they flirt on social media platforms despite being in a
relationship, out of which 49% of the GenX respondents say that they do it
frequently.
The survey was conducted in May 2025 by IPSOS on behalf
of Gleeden, with the objective of understanding how love and relationships are
changing among GenX, Millennials and GenZ Indians, and how their opinions have
shifted over the last years. The results have since indicated that more Indians
are opening up towards the notion of infidelity as an enabler for emotional
availability and happiness and are more receptive towards meeting new people.
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