This week’s episode happens to overlap with Valentine’s Day, so we thought we’d use that as an opportunity to start a new series on the economics of love. For the next several weeks, we’re going to be spending part of every show talking about romantic relationships from an economic perspective.

We thought we’d start this week with the place that most romantic relationships tend to start, and that is with dating, specifically with dating apps. And the data point there is 39 39%. That is the share of all heterosexual couples who now report having met their partner online. That makes online including dating apps the most popular single method of meeting a romantic partner more popular than all the traditional avenues, whether through family friends at a bar, their work, church in the neighborhood, etc..

And actually, that means heterosexual couples are only now catching up to same sex couples. 65% of same sex couples say they met their partner online. So they have been ahead of the curve. All this adds up to dating apps, being in the center of our national romantic life. So we thought we’d dig in…

Find more episodes and subscribe at Foreign Policy.