▶ Watch Video: Mature adults find out why it’s never too late to find love
There are more than 27 million singles over the age of 60, and since 2013, online dating for the age group has doubled.
But some say they’re “old school” and prefer to meet people in-person.
Gail Adams, 64, is “old school,” too. Back in 2008, she created 7 in Heaven Singles, which urges people to “ditch the dating apps and meet someone in real life.” The service hosts in-person events and speed dating for people of all ages.
“Don’t give up, I mean ’cause you just don’t know what’s around the corner,” said Adams, who remarried at 62.
“If you just let it go and just want it, it’ll come to you. It really will,” she added.
Adams started 7 in Heaven Singles as a side gig. Once the recession hit in 2008, she lost her job and her dating service became a full-time thing. She said that despite the economic turmoil, people were still looking to date.
“They came, recession and all,” Adams told CBS News. “Singles want love.”
She said older Americans are her “biggest numbers.”
Adams recently held an event on New York’s Long Island, where 24 people between the ages of 50 and 65 showed up for a night of speed dating. By the end of the night, all but one person picked a match.
Adams believes there are so many single, older people now because they’re more likely to walk away from unhappy marriages than the previous generation.
“My mother’s generation and my father’s generation, they were taught, you stay together, you know. And they did stay together,” Adams said.
Between 1990 and 2015, the divorce rate among older adults more than doubled. Researchers said there are many factors, including a sharp rise in women entering the labor market that allowed wives to afford divorce.
Susan Rosenthal, a 72-year-old litigator in New York City, said she wouldn’t have gotten divorced if she couldn’t afford it. She has been dating for 20 years — these days, mostly online.
“Of course, I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t hopeful” about finding love, she said. “And I love meeting people.”
Adams said that at her events, “some have stuck, some have not stuck. Some come back again.”
She also said it’s never too late to find love.
“I’ve had couples on my events that have met in their 70s that have got married,” she said.
