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Somewhere between a first date and a boyfriend, there is a person who texts you every night, sleeps over on weekends, and still introduces you as a friend. In Seoul, in Shanghai, in Manila, millions of people under 35 are sitting inside that gap and staying there, sometimes for months, sometimes for years. They are not confused. They know what they are doing. The word for it is situationship, and it has become one of the most common ways young people in Asia relate to each other romantically without committing to the full architecture of a formal relationship. A YouGov poll found that 50% of adults aged 18 to 34 have been in one. The numbers alone tell you this is not a niche behavior practiced by a few people who can’t make up their minds. It is a pattern, and it is spreading through some of the fastest-growing dating markets on the planet.
Marriage Numbers Are Falling Off a Cliff
China recorded 6.1 million marriage registrations in 2024. That figure, reported by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, represents a 20.5% drop compared to the year before and the lowest total since the government started tracking in 1986. South Korea is in a similar position. Women there now marry for the first time at an average age of 31.6, and men at 33.9. Among Korean women between 30 and 34, a full 77% are unmarried. Singleness in the 20s age group climbed from 40% in 1991 to 65% by 2018.
These are not people who failed to find someone. Many of them are in ongoing romantic connections that never formalize. The situationship fills the space between being alone and being partnered, and for a growing number of young Asians, that space is comfortable enough to stay in.
Relationships that are Unconventional
Situationships sit alongside a growing list of arrangements that younger generations in Asia pursue on their own terms. Some people prefer casual dating with no labels, others commit to long-distance connections they maintain through apps, and some are openly dating a sugar baby as part of how they approach romantic life. The common thread is that none of these paths follow the linear courtship model previous generations treated as default.
A YouGov poll found that 50% of adults aged 18 to 34 have been in a situationship, which suggests that loose definitions of partnership are now ordinary rather than fringe. Younger people in Seoul, Shanghai, and Manila are picking from a wider set of relationship formats, and fewer of them feel pressure to explain or justify those choices to anyone outside the relationship itself.
Why the Label Stays Off
Ask someone in a situationship why they haven’t defined it, and you will get practical answers. Housing costs in cities like Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Beijing make cohabitation expensive. Career timelines are long and uncertain. Moving in together or getting engaged carries financial weight that many people in their 20s and early 30s are not prepared for, and they know it.
There is also a social calculation involved. In many Asian families, announcing a boyfriend or girlfriend triggers a cascade of questions about marriage and children. Keeping a relationship unnamed lets both people avoid that pressure. The relationship continues, but without the expectations attached to its recognition.
The Dating App Economy Feeds the Cycle
Asia-Pacific accounts for 34.85% of global online dating revenue, according to Mordor Intelligence, and that market is growing at a 13.12% compound annual rate through 2031. Apps give users access to dozens of potential partners in a single evening. That volume of choice can make it harder to settle on one person, and it rewards a browsing mentality over a commitment mentality.
At the same time, burnout is real. A 2025 survey conducted by Match.com and the Kinsey Institute found that 53% of singles report dating fatigue. People are tired of swiping, tired of first dates that go nowhere, and tired of performing enthusiasm. Situationships offer a reprieve from that cycle because they require less effort to maintain than active dating while still providing companionship and intimacy.
AI Is Entering the Conversation
Dating app happn flagged what it calls the “AI situationship” as a defining trend heading into 2026. The company noted that AI tools offer “a sense of certainty and companionship” in a dating environment full of “mixed signals and emotional burnout.” Some young people are forming parasocial bonds with AI chatbots that function, emotionally, like situationships with no human on the other side. It is a strange development, but it follows the same logic. People want closeness without the overhead of traditional commitment.
Family Pressure Has Not Disappeared
Parents and grandparents in China, Korea, Japan, and the Philippines still ask about marriage at family dinners. Government campaigns to boost birth rates are running in several countries. But these pressures are losing their grip on personal decisions. Younger people acknowledge them and then do what they were going to do anyway. A situationship can exist for years alongside parental disapproval, precisely because it never becomes official enough to warrant a family conversation.
Where This Goes
Situationships are not a phase that ends when people “grow up.” They are a response to real material and social conditions, and those conditions are intensifying across Asia. Housing is getting more expensive, not less. Work is getting more demanding. Dating apps keep expanding. The unlabeled relationship is a rational response to all of it, and the data suggests it will remain a dominant format for years to come.
