Here's How Many (Millions Of) Chocolates Americans Will Consume On Valentine's Day 2025

Finding the perfect Valentine's Day gift is always a tricky challenge, yet no matter what you get your loved ones this year, the one thing it's almost impossible to go wrong with is some chocolate. Flowers may be the symbol of the holiday, but chocolate is what people really want — and the statistics show it. According to the National Confectioners Association (NCA) (via Chocolate Affairs Magazine), Valentine's Day is the third biggest chocolate consumption day of the year, falling behind candy juggernaut Halloween, and Easter for sheer volume of chocolate purchased and consumed. 

But unlike those other two holidays, Valentine's Day chocolate doesn't share the stage with other sweets. Americans are also more likely to indulge in higher quality chocolate brands as a nice gift, making the amount of chocolate people get all the more impressive. And Valentine's Day 2025 is looking to be the biggest year ever, with Americans on track to purchase 75 million pounds of chocolate for the holiday this year, according to a press release from chocolate supplier Cargill.

If 75 million pounds is a bit abstract, that translates to 800 million individual pieces of chocolate. For perspective, that amount of chocolate would be the same weight as 150 Statues of Liberty, or 15,000 elephants. More importantly, that's enough chocolate to give every man, woman, child, senior citizen, and newborn infant in the country a quarter pound of chocolate each. Not every person loves chocolate, believe it or not, but with 67% of Americans eating it on Valentine's Day (according to a 2022 Sugarbreak survey), that's just more to go around.

While Valentine's Day is obviously a huge day for chocolate, Americans don't really stop eating chocolate after the holidays, and seasonal chocolate products are estimated to be only 24% of all chocolate sales each year, according to Packaged Facts. As Cargill notes in the release, a whopping 89% of American consumers eat chocolate at least once a week, even outside of chocolate holidays, and almost 40% eat chocolate daily. And while the virtues of classy dark chocolate bars are always extolled by the experts, milk chocolate remains the top choice for most Americans, with 40% of people preferring it according to the National Confectioners Association, compared to 28% for dark chocolate. 

Of course, 26% of people are just excited to get any type of chocolate at all. So, maybe the best choice is just getting that box of assorted chocolates so everybody can find a favorite. But surprisingly enough, even with all that chocolate, Americans aren't even close to the country that consumes the most chocolate. That would be Switzerland, where, according to the World Population Review, the Swiss eat 22 pounds of chocolate per person every year. So, while traditions and gifts may change across borders, the love of chocolate is far from an American phenomenon, and you can be certain you won't be the only one buying a heart-shaped chocolate box this year.