VR Users by Gender and Age (2023 Demographics)
The question of gender distribution among Virtual Reality (VR) headset owners is an interesting one, both from a market research perspective and in relation to the broader context of technology adoption.
As VR technology becomes increasingly prevalent, understanding this demographic split is crucial for developers, marketers, and enthusiasts alike.
So what do we know about male-to-female ratio of VR headset owners?
Over a million people have visited VR Heaven and today, I’m sharing my visitor stats with you all.
Traffic Info
Most people who visit VR Heaven come through search engines. For example:
- They have a problem with their Meta Quest headset and they’re searching for solutions.
- They’re looking for ways on how to make their Quest 2 more comfortable
- People deciding which headset to buy
- Or people looking for games to play
Given the nature of this data, there is minimal bias when it comes to gender, but there will be a slight bias when it comes to age since younger people are more likely to use search engines.
VR Users by Gender
Interestingly, the number of women who use VR is close to a quarter:
- 76.7% of VR users are male
- 23.3% of VR users are female
At first, I thought there might’ve been some bias in the data. Maybe my articles about gaming were more likely to be searched by male audiences who game more, so I looked into the data and filtered down those posts. It appears the ratio of male to female was still roughly the same even for the gaming posts.
So ultimately, VR is still a male dominated field, but I’ve also noticed the gender gap slowly closing over time (albeit, very slightly).
A possibility of why there are fewer women in VR is because of VR motion sickness: a survey we conducted showed that women are 3 times more likely to experience VR sickness “frequently” than men, which could deter them from the field.
Why do women experience more VR sickness than men? There could be various factors such as: headset design & IPD mismatch, hormones, and differences in biology. It’s a known fact that women are more prone to motion sickness in general: in cars, planes, boats etc.
VR Users by Age
(This data doesn’t include people of under 18 years of age). It’s expected that there is a large amount of users under 18 years old – as clearly evident in games like Rec Room and Gorilla Tag.
- 34.58% of VR users are aged 18-24
- 28.03% are aged 25-34
- 19.04% are 35-44
- 10.74% are 45-54
- 4.56% are 55-64
- 3.05% are 65+
The Future
The future is looking increasingly gender-balanced in terms of VR headset ownership. As VR becomes more mainstream, and as its applications diversify, the gender gap may lessen. Moreover, a conscious effort by manufacturers and content creators to engage female audiences will be crucial in making the VR space more inclusive.
