“A survey by The Knot of nearly 10,000 couples married in 2023 revealed that lab diamonds accounted for 46 percent of engagement rings (compared with 39 percent who opted for a mined diamond), up from 12 percent in 2019.”
A one-carat lab diamond fell from $5,440 in 2016 to $1,325 in 2024. The same mined stone only fell from $6,538 to $5,035. The engagement ring tradition itself came out of a De Beers ad campaign. Mined diamonds now sell a scarcity that a factory erased.