FILE: ARCH-NUM-004  /  STATUS: PUBLISHED

    THE NUMBERS / THE STACKS

    Ghosting statistics, each one read in its source

    Pick a number, open its source, and check it yourself. Every number below links to the text it came from.

    LAST CHECKED: OCTOBER 10, 2026

    Every number here was read in its source on October 8, 2026, and links to it.

    Each number below was read at source. We opened each paper or page on October 8, 2026. A number stayed only if it was in that text.

    Counts are the source's own. We did not round, convert or combine them. Where a figure is widely repeated and we found no study behind it, this page says so.

    How common it is

    1. two in every 10

      Share of young adults in Spain who had been ghosted and had ghosted someone, in 12 months.

      Ghosting and breadcrumbing: prevalence and relations with online dating behaviors among young adults. Navarro, Larrañaga, Yubero and Víllora, in Escritos de Psicología, 2020. Open the page

    2. slightly more than three in every 10

      Share who had been breadcrumbed or had breadcrumbed someone: kept on a string with on-and-off contact.

      Ghosting and breadcrumbing: prevalence and relations with online dating behaviors among young adults. Navarro, Larrañaga, Yubero and Víllora, in Escritos de Psicología, 2020. Open the page

    3. half

      Share of those young adults who did not know the words ghosting and breadcrumbing.

      Ghosting and breadcrumbing: prevalence and relations with online dating behaviors among young adults. Navarro, Larrañaga, Yubero and Víllora, in Escritos de Psicología, 2020. Open the page

    4. 18 to 40

      Age range of the Spanish adults in that study.

      Ghosting and breadcrumbing: prevalence and relations with online dating behaviors among young adults. Navarro, Larrañaga, Yubero and Víllora, in Escritos de Psicología, 2020. Open the page

    Among US daters

    1. 5,000

      People in the US who had dated in the past five years, polled in August 2023.

      Which states are worst at 'ghosting'?. KRQE News 13, 2023. Open the page Reports: A Forbes Health and OnePoll survey of 5,000 people in the US who had dated in the past five years, run in August 2023. We read the news page, not the survey.

    2. 76%

      Share of them who had ghosted someone or been ghosted, one figure for both.

      Which states are worst at 'ghosting'?. KRQE News 13, 2023. Open the page Reports: A Forbes Health and OnePoll survey of 5,000 people in the US who had dated in the past five years, run in August 2023. We read the news page, not the survey.

    3. Nearly 60%

      Share who said they had been ghosted.

      Which states are worst at 'ghosting'?. KRQE News 13, 2023. Open the page Reports: A Forbes Health and OnePoll survey of 5,000 people in the US who had dated in the past five years, run in August 2023. We read the news page, not the survey.

    4. 45%

      Share who said they had ghosted another person.

      Which states are worst at 'ghosting'?. KRQE News 13, 2023. Open the page Reports: A Forbes Health and OnePoll survey of 5,000 people in the US who had dated in the past five years, run in August 2023. We read the news page, not the survey.

    Who ghosts

    1. 554

      People in a first online study where a stronger belief in destiny went with having ghosted before.

      Ghosting and destiny: Implicit theories of relationships predict beliefs about ghosting. Freedman, Powell, Le and Williams, 2019. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Open the paper

    2. 747

      People in the second study, which repeated the finding and extended it to friendships.

      Ghosting and destiny: Implicit theories of relationships predict beliefs about ghosting. Freedman, Powell, Le and Williams, 2019. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Open the paper

    Numbers that get repeated

    • “80% of millennials have been ghosted”

      We could not find a study behind this figure in the records we read.

    • “76% of daters have been ghosted”

      In the record, 76% had ghosted or been ghosted, one figure for both. The share who had been ghosted was nearly 60%.

      Which states are worst at 'ghosting'?. KRQE News 13, 2023. Open the page Reports: A Forbes Health and OnePoll survey of 5,000 people in the US who had dated in the past five years, run in August 2023. We read the news page, not the survey.

    How we checked

    A runner opened each source on October 8, 2026, and saved what it read. A number appears here only if it sits in that saved text, word for word.

    The link beside each number opens the source, so you can check it yourself. One source is a news page about a survey we could not open, and says so.

    The pattern behind it

    Going quiet on someone instead of saying it has a file here. The Disappearing Pattern is the pull to leave when someone gets close.

    The numbers above say how many people have done it or had it done to them. They do not say why any one person goes quiet.

    Catch is the first move. Catch means you feel the body signal and name the pattern before it becomes the behavior.

    The body signal is what you feel in your body as the pattern starts. It might be a drop in the stomach as the message arrives.

    The free Crash Course, short lessons on your pattern, starts by naming it.

    HOW TO CITE THIS PAGE

    The Archivist Method (2026). Ghosting statistics, each one read in its source. The Numbers. https://thearchivistmethod.com/statistics/ghosting