Settling the Score About Anniversaries

We’ve all forgotten things; it being our turn to bring oranges to the kids’ soccer game, our cell phone on the nightstand when we’re in a rush to get to work, perhaps even a close friend’s birthday. But few things are as scary as the idea of forgetting you and your significant other’s anniversary. The repercussions of such a lapse are far reaching, but we wanted to find out just how common it was for people to forget. So we conducted a survey polling 1500 respondents of all ages, genders and locations to see who is most prone to forgetting their anniversary.

When it comes to queries such as this, there is one question that comes first to everyone’s mind: Who remembers their anniversary better, men or women? Drum roll please… the women!

Yes it likely comes as no shock, but women remember their anniversary at a much higher rate than men do. While this isn’t an eyebrow-raising revelation, there were a couple of things that did surprise us.

Our survey obtained results from a number of demographics, including a range of income levels. And interestingly enough, the more money respondents made the less likely they were to forget.

Perhaps it’s because those with high salaries have assistants to remind them, but nonetheless, a higher salary seems to correlate with a better memory.

Whether we like the big city life of, say, New York City, or prefer the sandy beaches of Southern California, where we live often affects our priorities and, apparently, our memory. We noted regional differences in how likely young individuals were to remember their anniversary.

The residents of the South, especially those aged 25-34, love their significant others a whole bunch. Either that or they just love buying gifts; perhaps it’s a little of both. Whatever the case may be, it’s clear that those in the South region have the best memory in the country.

Lastly, it appears that memory just gets better with age. While most of us struggle to remember what we had for breakfast this morning, those 65 and older were least likely to have ever forgotten their anniversary.

Those who can make it to age 65 without forgetting an anniversary are in luck because the longer you are together, the easier it is to remember the the most important dates in your relationship.

For gift ideas to commemorate this special day (or perhaps to make up for forgetting it) be sure to check out our anniversary gifts page.