Sex Doll Statistics: Purchases, Usage, Interest, Online Searches, and Trends

Sex Dolls* have become increasingly popular over recent years in sync with how the sex toy market have expanded exponentially.

In this study we aggregated purchasing data from 8 of the biggest sex doll retailers, production data from 3 of the biggest manufacturers.

We additionally ran a survey on more than 8,000 people and used sophisticated online tools to figure out the online interest for sex dolls.

This is the most comprehensive statistical study on sex dolls ever.

Sex Doll Sales

• 9.7 percent of American men over 18 have bought and own a sex doll.
• 6.1 percent of American women over 18 have bought and own a sex doll.
• 3 billion dollars worth of sex dolls are sold annually (making up 8% of the total 37 billion dollar annual sex toy industry).

Surprised than 9.7 percent of men own a sex doll? Well, you might be less surprised when you know that 78 percent of Americans over 18 own a sex toy!

Sex Doll industry growth

The sex doll industry have experienced tremendous growth.

Especially in recent years, as people have been self-isolating making it harder to meet a ‘real’ partner. Remote-controlled sex toys have also increased heaps in the last couple of years.

During the outbreak of Covid-19 sex doll sales shot up by 75 percent, making 2020 the record sex doll sales year with 2.86 billion dollars worth of sex dolls sold.

This is even despite an average YoY (year-over-year) growth of 33 percent in sex doll sales.

Sex Doll Usage

How are sex dolls used? Solo or with a partner? And, how often?

These are all questions that our survey of more than 8000 people provides answers for:

So first up, do people even use their sex dolls, or have they been bought just for fun?

• 86.8% of people use the sex dolls they buy.
• 13.2% do not use the sex doll they have bought.
• 13.6 million American men own and have used a sex doll at one point (8.6 million women also own and have used a sex doll).

Of those respondents, that said they used a sex doll before, we asked them “How often?“:

• 65% of people who have tried a sex doll use it regularly (at least once a month).
• Around 20% of people who have tried a sex doll only did it that one time.

The question now becomes, how do people use their sex dolls?

• Only 50% of sex doll users use the toy during intercourse with a partner.
• The primary use of sex dolls are for solo masturbation

With so many people using the doll together with their partner, it is interesting that only around 27% actually talked with their partner before deciding to buy a sex doll.

It can partly be related to the fact that 18.8 percent only tried the doll one time, and 13% never even used it: meaning it might be bought as a gimmick for a party; for that person as a gift; or alternatively, they regretted the purchase exactly because they didn’t talk about it before.

Why do people buy sex dolls? 3 main reasons

We asked the sex doll owners, why they originally bought a sex doll. Was it for sexual purposes, as a gift or gag, or did they want a doll for a platonic relationship? Or alternatively some other reason?

Here are the results

Almost 4 % buy a sex doll because of “other” reasons than the three main ones. Here are som of the written answers we received on the reasons:

• We bought it as a halloween scare-doll.
• I am creating an artpiece of sex toys and needed a big silicone sex doll to be the centerpiece.
• I wanted to build my own and create a bussiness creating them, so I was researching.
• I actually don’t know, I just did. Haven’t really used it.
• Why not.
• It sparked my interest, didn’t really have a “goal” of buying it.

Interest and online searches for sex dolls

First of, we took at look on the average occourences of the word “sex dolls” in every book available.

The most recognizable growth can be seen after entering the newest century. After 2000 we saw a rapid increase in the use of the word “sex dolls” in books. This can indicate both a heightened knowledge about it as a type of sex toy, as well as a de-tabooization of sex toys and dolls alike.

Online search interest

Next we took a look at the search interest for “sex dolls” in the last 5 years.

Interestingly it is almost impossible to see the growing interest over time due to two massive spikes in search interest.

First, in mid-2018 “sex doll brothels” became a thing that popped up all over the world and caught huge attention. It is less popular today, but recieved a lot of interest back in 2018.

Next, during the lockdowns sex dolls again became very popular as partner alternatives.

• Searches for “sex dolls” increased x16 times the usual during the height of Covid-19 lockdowns.
• Searches for “sex dolls” increased x11 times the usual after the rise in popularity of “sex doll brothels”.

*There are sex dolls for everyone such as: Realistic female sex dolls, Male sex dolls, Trans sex dolls, or Mini Sex Dolls.