The Most Loving Countries and Cities in the World, Based on 15 Million Tweets

Thousands of years ago, the Ancient Greeks decided to officially categorize all of the different types of love it was possible to feel, from the head-over-heels love you share with a romantic partner to the deep connection felt for life-long friends.

No matter who is the object of affection, there are all sorts of ways that people express their love, and the ways that we feel the most love vary just as much. For example, one poll found that over a third (38%) of U.S. adults prefer spending quality time with a romantic partner in order to feel loved.

Different cultures can also have their own unique ways of expressing love. In South Korea, you might see a love-struck couple wearing matching outfits to showcase their relationship to the world. Meanwhile, in Germany, it’s tradition to offer your beloved a pig trinket on Valentine’s Day.

But wherever you’re from, sometimes the easiest way of letting someone know you love them is by… well, telling them. And we’re all about words at Crossword Solver, so we wondered: based on how many times people say ‘love you’ online, which countries in the world are the most loving?

What We Did

We first collected a sample of geotagged tweets posted in countries and cities all over the world. We then analyzed that sample to find tweets that contained variations of the phrase ‘love you,’ for example, ‘love u’ and ‘<3 you,’ and variations of the heart emoji (e.g., 💓 and 💞) followed by ‘u’ and ‘you.’ We could then calculate the proportion of loving tweets per 100k overall to determine which location was more loving than others. 

Key Findings

• The most loving country is Guatemala, counting 2,217 loving tweets per 100,000.
• Cochabamba, Bolivia, is the most loving city in the world (with 2,878 loving tweets per 100k).
• The most loving capital city in the world is Manila, Philippines (1,246 loving tweets per 100k).
• In the U.S., the most loving state is West Virginia (613 loving tweets per 100k), and El Paso, Texas, is the most loving city (521 loving tweets per 100k).

Some of the other most loving countries in the world, like Guatemala, are Latin American countries: these include Honduras (2,195 loving tweets per 100k), Bolivia (1,922) and Panama (1,418). According to one study, Latino/Hispanic culture deeply values relationships. South Korea (1,509), where the 14th day of every month is dedicated to celebrating love, is also one of the most loving countries online.

A popular stereotype of city-dwellers is that they’re not as friendly as folks in smaller towns, but several studies tell a different story. For instance, one British experiment found that city folk are just as likely to help a stranger as much as their rural counterparts, and the Pew Research Center revealed that urbanites talk to their neighbors just as much too.

Love is at the core of most families, and immediate and extended family are considered very important in Filipino culture. Younger generations are also known to wear their heart on their sleeve online: the concept of hugot (a Filipino word meaning to express deep emotion) is spread among friends, family and romantic partners through poignant quotes, music and videos.

The next most loving states, when measured by the proportion of loving tweets posted locally, are Arkansas (612 loving tweets per 100k), Utah (583) and Montana (577), states that also happen to have some of the highest rates of marriage in the country. And as it turns out, Virginia, disproving its famous slogan “Virginia is for lovers,” doesn’t express love online as much: we found only 345 loving tweets there per 100k.

Also appearing in our ranking is America’s ninth friendliest city Nashville, Tennessee (377 loving tweets per 100k), and Las Vegas, Nevada (368), where getting married is a popular activity.

The Most Loving Locations in the World, According to Twitter

How much do people express love where you live? Explore our interactive table below to find out how loving each location is online, based on the number of tweets per 100k posted locally that includes the phrase ‘love you.’

The internet has made many things in life a lot easier, including sending our loved ones a quick message to let them know how much we love them. That being said, while some people might enjoy tweeting it from the rooftops, other people find it hard to say those magical little words to someone they love. 

However, it’s important to let your loved ones know you love them. According to psychologist Lisa Arango, whether it’s a romantic partner, a family member or a friend, telling someone you love them is a good way to “feed” the relationship and keep it strong. So no matter where you are in the world, why not tell someone you love them today?

Methodology & Sources

To find out which countries and cities are the most loving around the world, we gathered a sample of geotagged tweets from cities around the world. We then analyzed each tweet for patterns inside the text that denoted loving someone, e.g., 'love you,' '<3 you,' 'love u' and most variations of the heart emoji (e.g., 💓 and 💞) followed by ‘u’ and ‘you.’ We were then able to calculate the proportion of tweets containing a loving pattern per 100k tweets retrieved from a location overall.

Duplicated tweets are excluded from our analysis. To ensure representability, a maximum of 20 tweets per account was set.

For our world map of countries, only countries with more than 20k tweets are included.

For our map of the most loving city in every country, our data only includes cities with more than 5k tweets and countries with more than two cities after the 5k-tweet threshold was applied.

For our top 20 ranking of the most loving global cities, only cities with more than 10k tweets and a minimum population of 1.5m people are included.

For our top 20 ranking of the most loving cities in the U.S., our data only considers the top 100 most populated cities in the U.S. and the most populated city in every state. Cities with fewer than 20k tweets were excluded.