A white paper on the statistics of attraction, based on the behaviour of our users, by Twoo.com

To download, click here.

 

About Twoo

 

Twoo is a social discovery platform that puts people in touch, fast. According to ComScore data, the site has over 8.8 million monthly unique visitors, whilst being only just over one year old. Twoo is available online, on mobile and tablet devices and as a location based Android or iPhone application.

 

The site was launched in March 2011 by Massive Media, the company behind social networking giant Netlog. Massive Media have offices based in Belgium, and more recently, London. The site was launched first in Europe, then quickly expanded and is now available worldwide.

 

Twoo’s users are very active – most users log in two or three times a week, and a high proportion use the site daily.

 

Using Twoo is, above all, fun. Meeting new people is made easy through the state-of-the-art chat system, the fast loading, smooth user interface, and the easy to use introduction games. An important principle on Twoo is that all users on the site must be active and open to meeting new people.  Twoo is the only social site to remove inactive users after three months, and invests heavily into moderation of the site and ensuring that all users are active and genuine, leading to a network that promotes real-world interaction, in real-time, to real people. This also leads to more accurate data for this study, as we only mined data from active users on the site.

 

It’s free to meet new people on Twoo; people just need to fill in a few details and then they can begin chatting within 60 seconds. Users who wish to boost their popularity can buy Credits on Twoo for as little as £1.50, and “Twoo Unlimited” members can enjoy additional features such as seeing who likes them, and who has visited their profile, for as little as £1.50 per week.

 

About Our Data

 

Twoo’s 8.8 million monthly active users are based in all over the world: the site is live in over 200 countries, and is available in over 35 languages. The areas of study: United Kingdom, France, United States, Belgium, Australia and Germany, are among Twoo’s busiest.

 

Data Research Methodology

 

Twoo’s data is based both on profile information and behaviour. Profile information is filled in by the user when they join the website, to give other users a clear idea of their personality and lifestyle. None of this data was pulled from a bespoke survey.

 

Our behavioural data was focussed around what makes a particular user, or groups of users, popular on the network. This includes: the number of times the profile is clicked on, the number of times the user is contacted and the number of times the user is “liked”, or added as a favourite, by another user. This group of “popular users” represent about 5% of Twoo’s population, and looking at the profile information of this subset of users gave us the most interesting information around what characteristics make a user attractive to our community.

 

For the profile information, percentages of, for example, hair colour, would be taken from everyone who had filled in that part of their profile: users who had not filled in this information would not be counted. Some profile questions, such as personality traits, allow users to answer more than once, meaning the totals will add up to more than 100%, but the percentages represent the proportion of users who selected that particular personality trait, of all the users who filled in at least one trait.

 

The physical and personality traits, silhouette, and hair colour preference studies focus on profile information filled in by popular users. For perspective on the study on hair colour, we cross referenced the data on popular users with that of all users, to show us, for example, whether the percentage of popular redheads was higher than the percentage of redheads overall in the area. The Olympic study also focuses on data from these popular users. However, it should be pointed out that there is a difference between our data concerning how our users behave and what our users say they want. The section of the whitepaper concerning the top ten physical traits users look for in a partner was not based on data from popular users, but based on data from all users who had filled in the portion of the profile entitled “My Ideal Partner”. The difference between this and, for example, the silhouette data of our popular users, provides interesting results. What people say they want is not always the same as what people are drawn to.

 

The data for perspectives on marriage was taken from profile information from all users who had filled in that particular section.

 

Regional data for the UK was taken from the cities and their surrounding area. For example, our Birmingham data includes users from West Bromwich and Wolverhampton. The five areas chosen were done so based on the popularity of the network in that particular area; the more popular the network, the better the data.

 

All of our data collected for this study is done so anonymously.

 

In 2008, the number of people over the age of 16 who were not married was higher than the number of people who were, making it the first time in history that singletons outnumbered married people. This means it’s not just a good time to be single; it means it’s a great time to find out what makes people attractive to each other.

 

To find out, we looked at the profiles of Twoo.com users to see what the British population finds attractive. Our results are below.

 

Section 1     Appearance and Personality

There’s no denying that romantic attraction relies on an attraction to both physical appearances and personalities. That doesn’t mean, however, that every person finds the same things attractive. The qualities that are generally thought most attractive aren’t even the same across the different regions of the UK.

1.1 Which physical and character traits are most popular in the UK?

First, we looked at all of our popular users in the whole of the UK to see what they had listed as their best bodily feature on their own body.

Body Part	Popular Males		Body Part	Popular Females
EyesSmile	27%20%		EyesSmile	34%23%
BrainsLips	14%9%		BrainsLips	8%7%
FaceMuscles	6%5%		FaceLegs	6%5%
Six-packAss	4%4%		AssChest	5%4%
HairArms	2%2%		HairMouth	4%1%

Table 1.1

The top five characteristics are the same for both men and women, though the men rate their braininess more than women do. The lower five favourite physical traits rather appropriately included the body parts below the neck. Our Adonis-like male users love their six-packs, arms and muscles, whilst the women’s legs, asses and chests featured highly in the charts.

 

We then looked at the personality profiles of our most popular users in the UK. Users can pick more than one personality trait for themselves, which is why the stats add up to more than 100.

Character	Popular Males		Character	Popular Females
HonestFriendly	31%26%		HonestCheerful	41%31%
CheerfulAdventurous	23%22%		FriendlyHumorous	27%18%
HumorousCalm	21%19%		SensitiveSociable	15%15%
SociableGenerous	16%14%		CalmAdventurous	13%13%
AccommodatingLively	11%11%		LivelyAccommodating	12%12%

Table 1.2

 

Both sexes look for a friendly, cheerful person they feel they can trust. The most interesting results are a bit lower down the table, where the preferred personality traits differ wildly. A popular guy is 9% more likely to be adventurous than a popular girl, 6% more likely to be calm and 4% more likely to be generous: Women seem to want Indiana Jones with a penchant for gift giving. Popular girls are 10% more likely to be honest and 8% more likely to be sensitive.

 

1.2 What physical and personality characteristics are most popular in the UK by region?

We have seen the most popular traits across the UK as a whole, but we wondered how they might change when we look at regional preferences. We looked at the most popular members of some of Twoo’s top regions in the UK.

Popular Females On Twoo – their best body part
Nicest Part	UK	London	Manchester	Birmingham	Liverpool	Glasgow
EyesSmile	34%23%	31%23%	35%19%	36%25%	36%23%	33%23%
BrainsLips	8%7%	12%9%	8%10%	8%6%	2%6%	2%4%
FaceLegs	6%5%	6%4%	10%6%	4%8%	9%2%	3%7%
AssChest	5%4%	2%3%	5%4%	5%3%	4%6%	6%7%
HairMouth	4%1%	3%1%	2%1%	3%1%	4%1%	6%1%

Table 1.3

 

Let’s be blunt here – Glaswegians are clearly keener on the chest area and less bothered about intelligence than other Twoo cities. Londoners would seem to be the least shallow: 12% of London’s popular girls consider their brains their best feature.

 

In all UK regions, facial features beat bodily features hands down. Glasgow is proudest of their bodily features though: 20% of their popular ladies describe their best features as their legs, ass or chest, compared to only 9% in London and 13% in Liverpool. Perhaps Glaswegian girls just have great bodies and lots of self-esteem?

 

Luckily the popular Glaswegian men are not short of a six-pack or two: 8% of them rate their six-packs, whilst only 4% of men across the UK say the same.

 

Popular Males On Twoo – their best body part
Nicest Part	UK	London	Manchester	Birmingham	Liverpool	Glasgow
EyesSmile	27%20%	18%18%	30%17%	31%19%	33%17%	23%25%
BrainsLips	14%9%	21%13%	17%8%	10%6%	17%8%	10%14%
FaceMuscles	6%5%	8%5%	4%8%	11%9%	6%3%	6%5%
6PackAss	4%4%	4%4%	3%1%	2%2%	2%2%	8%2%
HairArms	2%2%	1%1%	4%1%	3%4%	1%1%	1%1%

Table 1.4

 

Overall, male facial features beat their bodily features as well. Again, too, Londoners highlight their preference for smarts, with 21% of London’s men being highlighted for their brains. If it’s male models you’re after, though, you might prefer the Liverpudlian men with their beautiful eyes or the pretty-faced guys of Birmingham.

 

1.3 Which personality traits are most popular by region?

The personality traits of popular women across the UK tend to be the happier ones: honesty, cheerfulness and friendliness are by far the most popular. Once you break it down regionally, those traits remain favourites, but other traits also come to the fore.

 

Popular Women on Twoo: Which character traits do they say they have?
Character	UK	London	Manchester	Birmingham	Liverpool	Glasgow
HonestCheerful	41%31%	42%25%	35%29%	44%31%	44%33%	39%31%
FriendlyHumorous	27%18%	24%17%	33%18%	29%17%	27%19%	26%25%
SensitiveSociable	15%15%	17%18%	20%13%	12%15%	13%14%	13%17%
CalmAdventurous	13%13%	11%11%	11%22%	14%16%	13%16%	17%14%
LivelyAccommodating	12%12%	10%15%	11%11%	12%12%	6%9%	12%12%

Table 1.5

 

Londoners prefer sociable women and are less likely to go for cheerful or friendly women than other regions. Mancunians are drawn to sensitive, adventurous women, and Birmingham’s popular women are more likely to be honest and friendly, but less likely to be sensitive. Liverpudlians value honesty and cheerfulness. Finally, Glaswegians go for humorous, calm women and are the least bothered about honesty.

 

In general, most people in the UK look for honest, friendly men and don’t care as much if they are lively or accommodating. This changes on a regional level, however.

 

Popular Men on Twoo: Which character traits do they say they have?
Character	UK	London	Manchester	Birmingham	Liverpool	Glasgow
HonestFriendly	31%26%	34%22%	30%28%	29%30%	24%29%	30%28%
CheerfulAdventurous	23%22%	18%17%	23%25%	23%21%	30%28%	23%30%
HumorousCalm	21%19%	24%17%	19%24%	18%19%	21%18%	23%17%
SociableGenerous	16%14%	16%12%	17%25%	20%14%	18%14%	16%14%
AccommodatingLively	11%11%	9%11%	11%9%	12%14%	9%11%	8%15%

Table 1.6

 

Londoners go for humorous, honest men and are less likely to care about adventurousness. Liverpudlians on the other hand want a man who is as adventurous as he is friendly. Mancunians prefer calm, generous men and are least likely to go for lively men. Lively men have more luck in Glasgow, where they prefer lively, adventurous types and care less for calmness.

 

Section 2     Silhouettes

Now that we know which physical attributes are the most popular, let’s look at body shapes as a whole. Do British men prefer the slim shapes of the celebrities that grace the covers of men’s magazines, or do they want a woman with curves?

 

2.1 Silhouettes by popularity in the UK

As it turns out, British guys do not just prefer curvy women. They are also more into curvy women than other nationalities. Here are the top silhouettes of Twoo’s most popular users in Britain, Germany and Australia.

 

Percentage of women per country who describe themselves at curvy
Popular UK	All UK	Popular Germany	All Germany	Popular Australia	All Australia
26%	27%	21%	22%	22%	27%

Table 2.1

 

This table shows the most popular female users, as compared to all the female users who describe themselves as curvy. While the percentages stay similar for both Germany and the UK, the percentage of popular Australian users describing themselves as curvy is notably lower than the percentage of all Australian users who describe themselves as such.

 

Popular Ladies on Twoo – silhouette
	Australia	Germany	UK
CurvyI’ll let you see for yourself	22%21%	21%13%	26%22%
SlimI’ll tell you later	21%9%	23%16%	20%11%
Lots To LoveSporty	12%7%	10%10%	10%6%
RoundSupermodelOlympic Athlete	5%3%0%	4%1%0%	4%2%0%

Table 2.2

 

Of the most popular female users in the UK, 26% describe themselves as curvaceous, whilst only 22% of users in Australia and 21% in Germany do. It’s clear from Table 2.1 and Table 2.2, then, that while German and British men appreciate ladies with curvy figures, Australian men are more fond of slenderer figures.

 

Unfortunately for Jess Ennis and co, none of the most popular women had described themselves as Olympic athletes – although our female members might have been dissuaded from describing themselves as such when “sporty” would do.

 

Our male members had no such problem.

 

Popular Guys on Twoo – silhouette
	Australia	Germany	UK
SportyI’ll let you see for yourself	46%15%	60%13%	41%20%
SlimI’ll tell you later	23%8%	9%11%	20%8%
Olympic AthleteLots To Love	0%3%	2%3%	4%4%
SupermodelCurvyRound	0%5%0%	2%2%0%	1%1%1%

Table 2.3

 

The majority of popular men described themselves as sporty, but a surprisingly large number describe themselves as Olympic athletes. Whilst no Australian men would say that about themselves and only 2% of German men would, 4% of British men say they have the build of an elite athlete in peak physical condition.

 

On the flip side, a large number of British men are somewhat coy about their body shape, answering “I’ll let you see for yourself”. Many ladies are willing to trust these men are the physical types they want, however, as a full one-fifth of the most popular British profiles answered with that vague response. Brave girls.

 

2.2 Silhouettes by popularity in each UK region

As you might expect, the most popular body types vary when you look across British regions. What you might not expect, though, is how much it varies.

 

Popular Ladies on Twoo – silhouette
	UK	London	Manchester	Birmingham	Liverpool	Glasgow
Curvy	27%	20%	21%	26%	31%	40%
I’ll let you see for yourself	22%	23%	20%	26%	13%	14%
SlimI’ll tell you later	20%11%	19%12%	19%8%	23%12%	21%8%	26%3%
Lots to LoveSporty	10%6%	9%10%	11%11%	6%4%	13%6%	9%6%
RoundSupermodel	4%2%	4%1%	5%4%	2%1%	4%4%	3%0%

Table 2.4

 

Glaswegians overwhelmingly prefer the curvy silhouette. Remember what we said about Glaswegians and the chest area in Section 1.1? It turns out that these chaps are also one of the main reasons why the United Kingdom indexes so well for the curvaceous lady. Just over one in four of the most popular women across the whole of the UK describes themselves as curvy, but in Glasgow, almost half of the most popular profiles – two in five – are of women who are curvy. The next most popular Glaswegian silhouette is slim, but only 26% of the most popular women have that silhouette.

 

Although curvy women are in the top two preferred body shapes across the board, other regions are a bit more egalitarian. There are only four percentage points separating London’s favourite body shapes, for example. Mancunians are more attracted to sporty women, which makes sense: they most preferred an adventurous woman. In Liverpool, a larger figure is most appreciated. One in three of the most popular women there describe themselves as curvy, and 17% of the most popular women describe themselves as “round” and “lots to love”. Either Liverpool and Manchester are swimming with supermodels, or the men of those regions are particularly into their waif-like figures

 

Section 3     Hair colour preferences

It’s been said that gentlemen prefer blondes, but is that really true? We looked at our most popular profiles to find out.

 

3.1 Hair colour preferences by popularity in the UK

Looking only at the four most common hair colours, blond ladies make a higher proportion of people with popular profiles than they do in all profiles. That is, while 24.6% of all women on the site are blond, 27.2% of the most popular profiles are of blond women. Brunettes have it a bit worse. They make up 39.2% of total profiles but only 35.8% of the most popular profiles.

 

	Popular Females	All Females	Difference
Blond	27.2%	24.6%	2.6%
Red	6.1%	6.1%	0.0%
Black	30.9%	30.2%	0.8%
Brown	35.8%	39.2%	-3.4%

Table 3.1

 

3.1A      So how much hair dye would it take to improve the sex life of the nation?

In order to get the population at large to reflect the hair colour ratios of the popular women, 2.6% of the population who are currently brunette should dye their hair blond and 0.8% should dye their hair black – a total of 3.4% of the female population.

 

Let’s assume we need 100ml of dye to take care of one human head. The average bottle size for hair dye is 60ml, so that’s between one and two bottles. Let’s assume too that the hair colour ratios of Twoo are the same as that of the rest of the UK. In that case, we need to dye the hair of 3.4% of women in the UK. There are around 30.5 million women living in the UK, so that means we’d need to dye 1,037,000 heads of hair, which would take 103,700 litres of hair dye.

 

3.2 Hair colour preferences by popularity in the UK region

Of course, you don’t have to dye your hair to ensure your look is popular. You could just make sure you’re in the right city. Rather than looking at only the most popular hair colours as in table 3.1, table 3.2 looks at all hair colours by UK region.

Popular Ladies on Twoo – hair colour
	UK	London	Manchester	Birmingham	Liverpool	Glasgow
BlackBlond	25%22%	31%22%	28%24%	34%20%	24%26%	19%31%
BrownRed	29%5%	27%4%	32%7%	23%5%	30%2%	31%6%
DyedOtherFlavour of the month	10%4%3%	8%3%4%	7%0%2%	9%5%2%	9%2%6%	8%6%0%

Table 3.2

 

Raven-tressed beauties are the most sought out in London and Birmingham, with 31% and 34% of the most popular profiles featuring black-haired women respectively. Redheads will find the most luck in Manchester, but they should make sure it is their natural colour as Manchester is also where dyed hair isn’t quite as popular. Blonds have the most fun in Glasgow, but they are tied for popularity with the brunettes there. If you’re a brunette or if you’re not keen on committing to one colour for too long, head for Liverpool, where they prefer brunettes over all other hair colours and have the highest proportion of women with “flavour of the month” hair in their popular profiles.

3.3 Hair colour preferences in the UK as compared to other countries

Now that we know the favourite hair colours across the UK, let’s see how that compares to other countries.

 

Female Popular Users
	Australia	Germany	UK
BrownBlack	33%33%	30%22%	29%25%
BlondDyed	18%5%	24%10%	22%10%
RedOther	4%3%	5%3%	5%4%
Flavour of The MonthGrey	4%1%	5%1%	3%1%

Table 3.3

 

In Germany, Australia and the UK, the percentage of red, “flavour of the month”, grey and other hair colours in popular users is very similar. The biggest differences are actually in the most popular hair colours: brown, black and blond.

 

In Australia, dark-haired women are vastly more popular, with brunettes and women with black hair make up 66% of the most popular profiles. Germans, on the other hand, prefer lighter haired women. There, 24% of their most popular profiles are of blond women, which is 6% more than in Australia. Only 22% of the most popular German profiles are of black-haired women, 11% less than in Australia.

 

In case anyone was thinking that there are obviously more blonds in Germany, hence a natural bias towards them, we also looked at the proportion of blonds in the whole of Germany.

 

	Germany Female	UK Female	Australia Female
BLACK	22.8%	25%	28.2%
BLOND	21.3%	20.4%	19.7%
BROWN	30.7%	32.5%	34.6%
RED	4.3%	5.1%	3.3%

Table 3.4

 

Table 3.4  shows that while there are more blonds in Germany, that difference in  is not large enough to justify such a clear preference as demonstrated in Table 3.3.

 

By contrast, in the UK, the three most popular hair colours altogether are separated by only 7 percentage points.

 

Interesting, too, is national attitudes to dying hair. In both Germany and the UK, 10% of the most popular women have dyed hair. In Australia, that percentage is halved, suggesting that Aussies respond much worse to unnatural hair colours than other nationalities.

 

Section 4     Physical traits men and women are looking for

Now we know how attraction in the UK breaks down when we look at the most popular profiles on Twoo.com, but do these stats match up with what people say they are looking for? The next set of statistics takes data from profile information filled out by all users in a particular region.

4.1 Top ten physical traits British people look for in a partner

 

Perfect partner’s best feature	What do boys say?		Perfect partner’s best feature	What do girls say?
EYESSMILE	22.42%20.09%		EYESSMILE	25.79%22.94%
FACEBRAINS	14.46%11.77%		BRAINSFACE	15.45%12.53%
ASSCHEST	8.37%7.32%		LIPSASS	3.97%3.71%
LIPSLEGS	4.89%3.76%		MUSCLESCHEST	2.72%2.56%
HAIRMOUTH	1.44%1.22%		SIXPACKHANDS	2.12%1.57%

Table 4.1

 

As it turns out, UK men are incredibly honest about what they want. Over 8% of them are bold enough to list “ass” as their ideal partner’s best body part, and over 7% like a good chest. On the whole, however, men are more evenly split when describing their perfect woman than women are when describing themselves (see Section 1.1). The most men, 22%, want their ideal woman’s best feature to be her eyes, but the fourth most popular answer – brains – is 12%. Each answer becomes less popular by only a handful of percentage points. Compare this to how the most popular women described themselves. The eyes were the best feature for 34% and smiles were the best feature of 23%. The third most common was the women’s brains, and only 8% claimed that as their best feature.

 

The best features of the most popular men tallied more closely with what women said they wanted in their ideal mate. The percentages for the self-described best features of men and the ideal best features according to women were no more than three percentage points off for all but four of the features. Lips were the self-described best feature of 9% of men, whilst only 4% of women wanted that to be their ideal man’s best feature. And although 13% of women wanted their man’s best feature to be his face, only 6% of men thought their face was their best feature. Interestingly, small numbers of men described their arms and their hair as their best features (2% for both), but women didn’t seem to care about either of those. Instead, 2% of women wanted a man with great hands, and 3% wanted a guy with a gorgeous chest.

 

4.2 Top ten physical traits UK men look for as compared to other countries

It is easy to imagine that besides a few cultural differences, what men like in one country would be pretty similar to what men in another country would want. After all, biologically speaking, we’re all looking for fertility and health in the physical aspects of our ideal partners. The data, however, draw a different picture.

Perfect partner’s best feature?	AU Male	BE Male	DE Male	FR Male	GB Male	US Male
EYES	19.24%	32.57%	24.61%	21.81%	22.42%	17.04%
SMILE	24.64%	15.71%	16.02%	17.96%	20.09%	19.64%
FACE	15.38%	21.90%	17.40%	18.86%	14.46%	15.88%
BRAINS	12.31%	8.74%	10.98%	16.55%	11.77%	14.12%
ASS	6.28%	4.55%	8.86%	6.98%	8.37%	6.67%
CHEST	6.70%	4.32%	4.57%	5.30%	7.32%	7.18%
LIPS	4.92%	2.23%	5.24%	2.70%	4.89%	6.83%
LEGS	3.53%	2.98%	1.83%	2.12%	3.76%	4.13%
HAIR	1.85%	1.39%	1.32%	1.66%	1.44%	1.74%
MOUTH	1.00%	1.30%	2.39%	1.94%	1.22%	1.59%
SIXPACK	0.45%	0.36%	0.75%	0.30%	0.52%	0.90%
MUSCLES	0.45%	0.40%	0.67%	0.62%	0.43%	0.65%
HANDS	0.55%	0.61%	0.89%	0.99%	0.31%	0.47%
ARMS	0.26%	0.15%	0.18%	0.10%	0.24%	0.21%
Body parts below the neck	18.22%	13.37%	17.75%	16.41%	20.95%	20.21%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 4.2

 

Distinct preferences across borders are not easy to spot at first. British, French, Belgian and German men go for beautiful eyes, and Australians and Americans prefer a woman with a perfect smile. Still, the top three features across the board are eyes, smile and face.

 

It’s when you start to look at other body parts that cultural differences emerge. French men have the largest percentage of those looking for a woman with a lot of intelligence. Almost 10% German and British guys like women with great asses, though the number of men preferring asses is closer to 5% for the other nationalities.

 

Once you start adding together the percentages for body parts below the neck, an interesting trend emerges. English-speaking natives are more likely to look downward for their ideal body parts. More than 20% of both the Brits and Americans prefer part of the body below the neck, as do just over 18% of Australians – though their preference for those body parts are closer to European men’s preferences. On the continent, 17.75% of German men and 16.41% of French men focus on the body parts below the neck, whilst only 13.37% of Belgian men do.

 

Ladies’ ideal body parts are fairly similar to men’s, though more of them prefer brains over faces.

 

Perfect partner’s best feature?	AU Female	BE Female	DE Female	FR Female	GB Female	US Female
EYES	23.77%	36.25%	28.48%	25.92%	25.79%	20.58%
SMILE	28.45%	16.43%	17.16%	19.57%	22.94%	22.71%
BRAINS	15.05%	10.62%	14.84%	19.68%	15.45%	18.60%
FACE	13.63%	17.97%	15.54%	15.09%	12.53%	12.53%
LIPS	2.96%	1.47%	3.83%	2.03%	3.97%	6.79%
ASS	2.68%	2.24%	3.58%	4.11%	3.71%	1.67%
MUSCLES	2.00%	1.75%	1.88%	2.36%	2.72%	2.84%
CHEST	2.51%	2.99%	1.37%	1.06%	2.56%	2.90%
SIXPACK	1.65%	1.91%	2.61%	1.66%	2.12%	2.01%
HANDS	1.31%	2.09%	3.45%	2.80%	1.57%	1.51%
MOUTH	1.31%	1.80%	2.11%	2.50%	1.51%	2.62%
HAIR	0.91%	1.23%	1.04%	1.29%	1.36%	1.33%
ARMS	1.31%	0.58%	0.52%	0.29%	1.36%	1.11%
LEGS	0.51%	0.53%	0.30%	0.30%	0.71%	0.79%
Body Parts below the neck	11.97%	12.09%	13.71%	12.58%	14.75%	12.83%

Table 4.3

 

In Australia, France, the UK and the US, more women want their ideal partner’s brain to be their best feature, and they care less about their partner’s face. Still, in all the countries, the top four features are eyes, smile, face and brains.

 

Unlike men, women are much less inclined to prefer the body parts below the neck. Not a single feature below the head was a priority for 5% of the female populations, though 4% of French women wanted their man to have a nice ass.

 

In fact, almost half the number of women than men preferred any body part below the neck. That is probably why in Section 1.1, 14% of our most clicked-on guys in the UK list their brains as their best asset (compared to only 4% listing their six-pack), and 31% have a higher education qualification.

 

4.3 Favourite body parts by region

We know now that what men want varies by region, but do they say they want the same things, or do similar regional variations exist?

 

What Men Say They Want
	UK	London	Manchester	Birmingham	Liverpool	Glasgow
EYESSMILE	22%20%	26%19%	22%24%	28%25%	22%20%	22%25%
FACEBRAINS	14%12%	15%20%	12%11%	17%9%	9%8%	10%9%
ASSCHEST	8%7%	7%2%	11%7%	6%4%	12%9%	15%8%
LIPSLEGS	5%4%	0%3%	4%4%	2%6%	5%6%	4%0%
HAIRMOUTH	1%1%	2%2%	1%0%	1%1%	1%1%	2%1%
Body Parts below the neck	19%	12%	22%	16%	27%	23%

Table 4.4

 

According to this data, Londoners value a woman with intelligence just a bit more than Glaswegians value a nice ass. The men of Birmingham would love to get lost in someone’s eyes, and in Manchester, they fall for a woman with a great smile. Liverpudlians, however, seem more interested in nice chests than the men in other cities.

The women of the various British cities also show some interesting predilections.

What Women Say They Want
	UK	London	Manchester	Birmingham	Liverpool	Glasgow
EYESSMILE	26%23%	19%22%	23%22%	29%27%	28%	28%
					34%	26%
BRAINSFACE	15%13%	28%12%	13%17%	16%10%	9%	11%
					11%	7%
LIPSASS	4%4%	2%2%	1%6%	1%4%	5%	4%
					3%	7%
MUSCLESCHEST	3%3%	2%2%	4%0%	4%2%	3%	0%
					3%	0%
SIXPACKHANDS	2%2%	2%2%	3%	2%	0%	4%
			1%	1%	0%	4%
MOUTHARMS	2%1%	1%2%	3%	1%	0%	4%
			1%	1%	0%	1%
HAIRLEGS	1%1%	1%0%	0%	0%	3%	1%
			3%	0%	0%	0%
Facial features, excl. hair	68%	56%	66%	68%	78%	69%
Body parts below the neck	16%	12%	18%	14%	9%	16%

Table 4.5

 

Something is trending with both the boys and the girls: the women of London are more into brains than the women of other cities, whilst Glaswegian gals show the strongest preference for a nice ass. Similarly to the men of the city, Birmingham’s women love a great set of eyes.

 

In the more remarkable contrasts, Liverpudlian women are by far and away the most interested in a nice smile, and they are most interested in facial features and also in hair. The women in Manchester don’t show a particularly strong preference for any one body part, but they do like the parts below the neck best. Perhaps Mancunian women prefer the total package?

 

4.4 Top physical traits, by age

First let’s look at what women list as their perfect partner’s best feature, as their age progresses.

 

What women list as their perfect partner’s best body part, by age
Nicest Part	18-19	20-24	25-29	30-34	35-39	40-44	45-49	50-59	60+
SmileEyes	23%26%	26%25%	27%18%	16%28%	21%21%	22%30%	27%25%	28%28%	31%
									23%
BrainsFace	4%16%	12%10%	21%14%	28%9%	26%9%	16%11%	20%	20%	10%
							17%	12%	26%
6 pack	6%	6%	2%	1%	0%	1%	0%	0%	0%
Muscles	7%	4%	4%	3%	5%	5%	2%	1%	1%
AssArms	6%	3%	6%	3%	2%	2%	4%	5%	1%
	3%	3%	1%	2%	3%	1%	0%	0%	0%
ChestHair	1%	2%	2%	1%	3%	5%	4%	2%	2%
	7%	2%	2%	1%	0%	1%	1%	0%	1%
MouthHands	1%	2%	1%	2%	3%	1%	1%	1%	0%
	0%	1%	2%	2%	3%	2%	1%	2%	2%
All facial features	66%	62%	60%	56%	53%	64%	69%	69%	80%
Body parts below the neck	23%	21%	16%	12%	16%	17%	10%	10%	7%

Table 4.6

 

Chart 4.1

 

The chart shows that facial features become increasingly important for women after the age of 40, and that brains are most important between 30 and 35. Body parts below the neck are most important for the youngest women but have a resurgence in popularity amongst women between the ages of 40 and 45. A great smile becomes more and more important with age, and a nice ass seems to make a bit of a comeback for women in their 50s. A lovely chest is most important to a woman in her early 40s, whilst muscles and, funnily enough, hair are most significant when a lady is in her late teens.

 

As for the men, their preferences also change as they age.

 

What men list as their perfect partner’s best body part, by age
Nicest Part	18-19	20-24	25-29	30-34	35-39	40-44	45-49	50-59	60+
Smile	19%	24%	24%	20%	18%	23%	23%	27%	25%
Eyes	28%	24%	20%	18%	17%	21%	21%	23%	23%
Brains	8%	8%	15%	12%	12%	10%	14%	15%	15%
Face	8%	10%	7%	10%	11%	15%	15%	17%	19%
Ass	15%	14%	9%	8%	10%	7%	4%	1%	0%
Chest	3%	5%	4%	6%	7%	10%	5%	3%	1%
Legs	3%	2%	4%	2%	2%	4%	5%	1%	1%
Mouth	2%	0%	2%	0%	0%	1%	1%	0%	0%
Hair	0%	0%	2%	0%	0%	1%	0%	1%	1%
Lips	1%	0%	0%	2%	2%	5%	5%	2%	0%
All facial features	58%	58%	53%	50%	48%	65%	65%	69%	67%
All body parts below the neck	21%	21%	17%	16%	19%	21%	14%	5%	2%

Table 4.7

 

Chart 4.2

 

The facial feature curve follows that of the women: men become less interested in body parts and more interested in facial features as they get older. Despite that trend, there’s also a similar bump in a preference for good body parts at around the 40-year mark for men, too. Men aged between 40 and 50 rate chest and legs most highly. Men in their late teens, by comparison, are clearly fixated with ladies’ eyes and bums.

 

Section 5     Perspectives on marriage

Marriage has traditionally been seen to be the goal of dating and matchmaking, but as people from every part of society have started questioning traditional roles and assumptions, we have begun to see fewer people getting married. If attitudes towards marriage have changed, then what are people looking for when they go on a dating site today?

 

5.1 Perspectives on marriage by country

The first thing we need to look at is attitudes across the world.

 

Marriage Is:	UK	Germany	France	USA	Australia	Belgium
The dream	15.5%	15.2%	8.2%	23.6%	17.0%	9.5%
An important commitment	32.4%	18.3%	30.8%	38.2%	35.0%	19.2%
Essential for a couple	8.0%	11.7%	5.4%	9.8%	7.5%	2.4%
A celebration with friends	3.0%	3.0%	2.7%	2.8%	4.8%	4.4%
I’m too young to think about it	14.8%	13.8%	12.2%	7.0%	8.9%	15.7%
Unnecessary	9.9%	12.1%	14.2%	6.1%	10.0%	25.2%
No longer relevant	12.9%	20.9%	22.3%	8.6%	13.0%	20.3%
The impossible dream	3.5%	4.9%	4.3%	3.8%	3.7%	3.2%

Table 5.1

 

Generally, people in continental Europe are more sceptical about marriage than other countries. Americans by far and away have the most optimistic view of marriage, and while people in the UK and Australia are less so, they refuse to be cynical about marriage. 56% of UK Twoo users consider marriage either to be an “important commitment”, “the ultimate dream” or “essential”. Contrast this with 45% in Germany, 44% in France and only 31% in Belgium. Though one in four UK users consider marriage to be “unnecessary”, “no longer relevant” or “the impossible dream”, that number is dwarfed by those who feel the same in Europe: almost two in five in Germany and France, and nearly half of users in Belgium.

 

5.2 Perspectives on marriage by UK region

This optimism for marriage does change, however, when you look at the various regions in the UK.

 

Marriage Is?	London	Manchester	Birmingham	Liverpool	Glasgow	UK as a whole
The Dream	12.5%	14.8%	13.8%	17.9%	14.7%	15.5%
An Important Commitment	36.6%	37.0%	34.5%	25.0%	38.2%	32.4%
Essential for a couple	9.4%	6.5%	3.4%	3.6%	2.9%	8.0%
A celebration with Friends	2.7%	3.7%	4.1%	0.0%	0.0%	3.0%
I’m too young to think about it	11.7%	13.0%	15.9%	21.4%	14.7%	14.8%
Unnecessary	8.8%	4.6%	9.0%	8.9%	8.8%	9.9%
No Longer relevant	14.4%	15.7%	14.5%	19.6%	17.6%	12.9%
The Impossible Dream	3.9%	4.6%	4.8%	3.6%	2.9%	3.5%
Positive	58.5%	58.3%	51.7%	46.5%	55.8%	55.9%
Negative	27.0%	24.9%	28.3%	32.1%	29.3%	26.3%

Table 5.2

 

You might be tempted to think that the cosmopolitan Londoners would be as cynical about marriage as our European neighbours, but in fact Liverpudlians are the least interested in marriage, with one in three thinking it is unnecessary, no longer relevant or the impossible dream.

 

Marriage is most important to Mancunians, where 58.3% have positive attitudes towards the institution.

 

5.3 Perspectives on marriage by age

It is little surprise that attitudes on marriage change over the course of someone’s life, but no one could have guessed how much it varies.

 

Marriage Is?	18-19	20-24	25-29	30-34	35-39	40-44	45-49	50-59	60+
The Dream	13%	16%	19%	15%	9%	9%	5%	4%24%	8%25%
An important commitment	18%	30%	39%	43%	41%	31%	31%
Essential for a couple	1%	4%	12%	9%	7%	6%	3%	4%	3%
A celebration with friends	2%	2%	4%	3%	3%	2%	1%	3%	0%
I’m too young to think about it	57%	37%	13%	4%	0%	3%	2%	3%	3%
Unnecessary	2%	6%	5%	7%	13%	18%	18%	17%	19%
No longer relevant	2%	2%	6%	11%	21%	25%	33%	36%	39%
The Impossible Dream	4%	3%	2%	9%	6%	6%	6%	6%	4%

Table 5.3

 

The younger people are, the more they view marriage as a dream, something they are too young to think about or unnecessary, illustrating how marriage as a concept is foreign to the lives they live. Once they hit their 30s, they become much more interested in marriage as more people begin settling down. Once they reach their forties and fifties, they continue to consider marriage an important commitment, but more and more people view it as unnecessary. Once people reach their 60s, it seems they aren’t really bothered one way or the other about marriage.

 

 

Section 6     Romance isn’t dead; it’s just overseas.

The table below shows that romance isn’t completely dead. It seems it’s just in other countries than the UK.

	BE Female	FR Male	FR Female	DE Male	DE Female	GB Male	GB Female	US Male	US Female	AU Male
Romantic orhopeless romantic	47%	46%	55%	47%	52%	52%	53%	65%	66%	57%

Table 6.1

 

Men from the USA are 13% more likely to describe themselves as romantic than their UK counterparts, with 65% choosing either the “Romantic” or “Hopeless Romantic” option on their profile. Women from the USA have a similar concept of themselves as romantics and are as far ahead of the UK girls.

 

As for the stereotypically amorous French, they have a much less rosy view of themselves. Only 55% of French women consider themselves romantics, but even fewer French men – 46% – claim to be romantic.

 

It would seem our American cousins could teach us a thing or two about courtship.

 

Section 7     Game, set, match: finding love during the Olympics

In the spirit of the Games, we thought we would look across borders to see which nationalities would make the best match with each other. We looked through a lot of data, and then we matched up the nationalities based on that data. The athletes represent their nationalities’ profiles, but we don’t mean to suggest that they did hook up – only that based on our data, they might have fancied each other.

 

For example, the average UK male wants a woman who is adventurous, is curvy and has a nice ass. His best match is an Australian female, who has all of those qualities. The average UK woman wants a man who is humorous, sporty and has nice eyes, which describes the typical Belgian man. If you want to see the full statistics, see the Appendix.

 

 

We put the tables and charts of raw data in the Appendix, if you’d like to see where we got our information from.

 

If that all seems a bit confusing, we created some cards to make it easier to understand the countries’ best assets.

 

The most popular international matches for men are German women, followed by British women, and the most desired international matches for women are British men, followed by Belgian men.

 

Interestingly, the qualities German men want match the qualities found in both British and German women, but both of those sets of women prefer the qualities found in Belgian men. The only nationality to not get any matches with either gender are the French – which, considering their lack of romance revealed in Section 6, might be for good reason.

 

As it turns out, only one set of nationalities match up reciprocally: UK men and Australian women. What UK men look for in their ideal woman describes Australian females to a tee, and what Australian women look for describes British men perfectly.

 

You can make your own jokes about going Down Under.

 

Appendix: Our Data

Section 7     Game, set, match: finding love during the Olympics

 

USA, Male						USA, Female
Fave body part		Character traits		Silhouette		Fave body part		Character traits		Silhouette
Smile	17%	Honest	19%	Sporty	39%	Eyes	25%	Honest	34%	I’ll let you see for yourself	23%
Eyes	16%	Calm	15%	I’ll let you see for yourself	22%	Smile	24%	Cheerful	25%	Curvy	20%
Brains	15%	Cheerful	14%	Slim	17%	Lips	11%	Friendly	15%	Slim	18%
Lips	15%	Adventurous	13%	I’ll tell you later	8%	Brains	10%	Calm	15%	I’ll tell you later	13%
Face	12%	Friendly	11%	Lots to love	6%	Face	8%	Sensitive	11%	Lots To Love	12%
Muscles	8%	Sociable	9%	Olympic Athlete	3%	Muscles	0%	Adventurous	10%	Sporty	6%
France, Male						France, Female
Fave body part		Character traits		Silhouette		Fave body part		Character traits		Silhouette
Eyes	24%	Calm	23%	Sporty	46%	Eyes	38%	Honest	31%	I’ll let you see for yourself	34%
Smile	18%	Honest	22%	I’ll let you see for yourself	22%	Smile	22%	Generous	20%	Round	20%
Face	11%	Humorous	15%	Slim	13%	Face	9%	Cheerful	19%	Slim	18%
Brains	11%	Liberal	14%	Curvy	8%	Chest	6%	Sensitive	19%	Curvy	10%
Lips	8%	Generous	13%	I’ll tell you later	4%	Brains	6%	Calm	15%	I’ll tell you later	7%
Ass	6%	Cheerful	12%	Lots to love	3%	Ass	4%	Humorous	12%	Sporty	5%
Germany, Male						Germany, Female
Fave body part		Character traits		Silhouette		Fave body part		Character traits		Silhouette
Eyes	28%	Honest	25%	Sporty	60%	Eyes	38%	Honest	37%	Slim	23%
Smile	16%	Humorous	16%	I’ll let you see for yourself	13%	Smile	17%	Humorous	26%	Curvy	21%
Face	14%	Adventurous	14%	I’ll tell you later	11%	Brains	11%	Friendly	18%	I’ll tell you later	16%
Brains	12%	Friendly	13%	Slim	9%	Face	7%	Cheerful	17%	I’ll let you see for yourself	13%
Lips	5%	Spontaneous	12%	Lots to Love	3%	Lips	7%	Reliable	13%	Sporty	10%
Ass	5%	Cheerful	8%	Supermodel	2%	Ass	5%	Sensitive	11%	Lots To Love	10%
Belgium, Male						Belgium, Female
Fave body part		Character traits		Silhouette		Fave body part		Character traits		Silhouette
Eyes	43%	Honest	32%	Sporty	47%	Eyes	52%	Honest	39%	I’ll let you see for yourself	30%
Smile	12%	Humorous	22%	Slim	19%	Smile	15%	Sensitive	24%	Slim	25%
Face	7%	Calm	17%	I’ll let you see for yourself	18%	Face	7%	Sociable	21%	Curvy	15%
Brains	9%	Adventurous	16%	Curvy	7%	Brains	6%	Cheerful	18%	I’ll tell you later	9%
Legs	2%	Friendly	15%	I’ll tell you Later	3%	Legs	4%	Humorous	16%	Sporty	7%
Hair	2%	Sociable	15%	Lots to Love	2%	Hair	3%	Friendly	15%	Round	7%
Australia, Male						Australia, Female
Fave body part		Character traits		Silhouette		Fave body part		Character traits		Silhouette
Eyes	23%	Honest	21%	Sporty	46%	Smile	36%	Honest	37%	Curvy	22%
Smile	18%	Calm	19%	Slim	23%	Eyes	28%	Cheerful	23%	Slim	21%
Face	18%	Sociable	16%	I’ll let you see for yourself	15%	Brains	7%	Friendly	20%	I’ll let you see for yourself	21%
Lips	13%	Friendly	14%	I’ll tell you Later	8%	Face	6%	Accommodating	15%	Lots To Love	12%
6 Pack	10%	Cheerful	13%	Curvy	5%	Lips	5%	Adventurous	14%	I’ll tell you later	9%
Brains	8%	Adventurous	10%	Lots to Love	3%	Legs	5%	Humorous	14%	Sporty	7%
UK, Male						UK, Female
Fave body part		Character traits		Silhouette		Fave body part		Character traits		Silhouette
Eyes	27%	Honest	31%	Sporty	41%	Eyes	34%	Honest	41%	Curvy	27%
Smile	20%	Friendly	26%	I’ll let you see for yourself	20%	Smile	23%	Cheerful	31%	I’ll let you see for Yourself	22%
Brains	14%	Cheerful	23%	Slim	20%	Brains	8%	Friendly	27%	Slim	20%
Lips	9%	Adventurous	22%	I’ll tell you later	8%	Lips	7%	Humorous	18%	I’ll tell you later	11%
Face	6%	Humorous	21%	Olympic Athlete	4%	Face	6%	Sensitive	15%	Lots to Love	10%
Muscles	5%	Calm	19%	Lots to Love	4%	Legs	5%	Sociable	15%	Sporty	6%

 

UK male wants:                                                      Match:  Australian female

Adventurous 10%                                                 Adventurous 14%

Curvy 18%                                                                  Curvy 22%

Nice ass 8%                                                               Nice ass 4%

UK female wants:                               Match:  Belgian Male

Humorous 10%                                                                         Humorous 22%

Sporty 22%                                                                Sporty 47%

Nice eyes 26%                                                         Nice eyes 43%

German male wants:                       Match:  UK Female                             or             German female

Cheerful 11%                                                           Cheerful 31%                                         Cheerful 17%

Sporty 36%                                                                Sporty 6%                                                 Sporty 10%

Nice eyes 27%                                                         Nice eyes 34%                                       Nice eyes 38%

German female wants:                                     Match:  Belgian Male

Honest 39%                                                              Honest 32%

Sporty 22%                                                                Sporty 47%

Nice eyes 29%                                                         Nice eyes 43%

Australian male wants:                                    Match:  US Female

Calm 11%                                                                   Calm 15%

Slim 17%                                                                     Slim 18%

Nice smile 25%                                                                         Nice smile 24%

Australian female wants:             Match:  UK Male                                   TWO WAY MATCH!

Accommodating 8%                                            Accommodating 11%

Sporty 21%                                                                Sporty 41%

Nice smile 28.5%                                                  Nice Smile 20%

French male wants:                          Match:  German Female

Calm 13%                                                                   Calm 9%

Slim 11%                                                                     Slim 23%

Nice ass 16%                                                            Nice ass 5%

French female wants:                      Match:  US Male

Thoughtful 13%                                                                        Thoughtful 5%

Sporty 26%                                                                Sporty 39%

Brains 20%                                                                Brains 15%

American male wants:                    Match:  UK Female

Cheerful 17%                                                           Cheerful 31%

Slim 17%                                                                     Slim 20%

Nice lips 7%                                                              Nice lips 7%

American female wants:               Match:  UK Male

Cheerful 12%                                                           Cheerful 23%

Sporty 18%                                                                Sporty 41%

Brains 19%                                                                Brains 14%

Belgian male wants:                         Match:  German female

Humorous 9%                                                          Humorous 26%

Slim 26%                                                                     Slim 23%

Nice eyes 33%                                                         Nice eyes 38%

Belgian female wants                      Match:  UK Male

Reliable 9%                                                               Reliable 9%

Sporty 35%                                                                Sporty 41%

Nice eyes 36%                                                         Nice Eyes 27%