Why are there MORE single MEN than women? How is mathematically possible?

[lux7]

I remember an article outlining that, at least in big cities, there are disproportionately more single men than single women (and that then swings to more single women when people get older).

It seems a mathematical riddle to me: if at birth there are (more or less) the same amount of men to women, how is it possible that there are many more single men in the younger age brackets (and most age brackets overall)?
Yeah, I guess older men tend to get a bit more younger women, but the impact of that should be very limited.. ?

How is it mathematically explained?

 

[Drck]

Was it in US or other country? There are different possible explanations.

If they count all ages, there are less men per women in older age groups (e.g. many men were killed during wars and there was abundance of women. Women also live on average longer than men, in USA about 5 years).

We don't know how they put together the statistics, e.g. men can commute to work to a city because of more work, they could be traveling to the city to meet more women, but they don't really live there

What do they exactly consider "single"? Not married, not engaged, not having a BF/GF?

Here is a link of sex ratios from 2002: http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p20-544.pdf
Below 18 years old there were more men than women.
Between 18 to around 29 years old it is approximately 1:1
Above 30 there are increasingly more women per men
Above 80 there is roughly 1 man per 2 women.

In 2002 there were 144 millions of females and 138 millions males. 6 million more females.


To me it seems that in younger population (18 to 30) more women are taken. The ratio of men to women is around 1:1 but women also get married to older men.

As the age goes up it should reverse. At the age of 40 there are already more women than men, and some of those men are married to younger women.

 

[Franco]

luc,

It probably has very little to do with statistics and more to do with more and more men not being able to approach, meet, and date women for long periods of time. Men are becoming weak and more sappy (thanks to mainstream media and social media), so it's just a lot harder for the bottom 50% of men to even end up in a relationship with a woman because most of them have no idea what they are doing (and even the ones who think they sometimes know what they are doing are STILL doing things wrong).

Women simply have to put themselves out there and make themselves physically attractive. From there, it's just a matter of how picky she wants to be. If she chooses to be less picky, then she should easily be able to select one of the few men hitting on her and take him into a relationship.

- Franco

 

[lux7]

luc,

It probably has very little to do with statistics and more to do with more and more men not being able to approach, meet, and date women for long periods of time. Men are becoming weak and more sappy (thanks to mainstream media and social media), so it's just a lot harder for the bottom 50% of men to even end up in a relationship with a woman because most of them have no idea what they are doing (and even the ones who think they sometimes know what they are doing are STILL doing things wrong).

Women simply have to put themselves out there and make themselves physically attractive. From there, it's just a matter of how picky she wants to be. If she chooses to be less picky, then she should easily be able to select one of the few men hitting on her and take him into a relationship.

- Franco

Franco,

True but that still doesn't explain the numbers though.
It's "easier" for women who just put themselves out there, wait for a bit depending on how picky they are and... End up with a (one) guy. No matter how much more easily girls can find a guy, they still take one single guy, so the total pool of single people decreases one unit for women and one unit for guys.

Still doesn't explain how come in any major US city there are substantially more single guys than single women.

 

[lux7]

Was it in US or other country? There are different possible explanations.

If they count all ages, there are less men per women in older age groups (e.g. many men were killed during wars and there was abundance of women. Women also live on average longer than men, in USA about 5 years).

We don't know how they put together the statistics, e.g. men can commute to work to a city because of more work, they could be traveling to the city to meet more women, but they don't really live there

What do they exactly consider "single"? Not married, not engaged, not having a BF/GF?

Here is a link of sex ratios from 2002: http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p20-544.pdf
Below 18 years old there were more men than women.
Between 18 to around 29 years old it is approximately 1:1
Above 30 there are increasingly more women per men
Above 80 there is roughly 1 man per 2 women.

In 2002 there were 144 millions of females and 138 millions males. 6 million more females.


To me it seems that in younger population (18 to 30) more women are taken. The ratio of men to women is around 1:1 but women also get married to older men.

As the age goes up it should reverse. At the age of 40 there are already more women than men, and some of those men are married to younger women.

It was US, my guess would be it reflects most western cities as well.

Commuting might change the numbers a bit, and so does the fact that women tend to "take" more guys from older age brackets, but still I don't think that can explain the total difference between single men and single women (can't find the webpage that was linked in a Chase's article with all the number split..)

 

[Franco]

luc,

Eh, I wouldn't take the numbers too seriously. There's also a lot of cases where women are dating men in other cities, even though they live in big cities. In bigger cities, men tend to be single more on average because there's a lot more "naturals" and guys hooking up with women, so they tend to remain single and just play the field.

There's also the case of women "reporting" that they're in relationships with men, but then you find that those same men that they are "in a relationship with" might report that they're single. So misconceptions/lies/etc. might skew the numbers.

When it comes to something so delicate as relationship status for women, it's hard to take an up-front answer from them as the truth since they are still trying to maintain a certain image -- and a woman in a relationship is generally considered more desirable than a woman who is still single.

- Franco

 

[Indian Race Troll (IRT)]

Hypergamy

women almost always want men who are in some ways above them

 

[Drck]

IMO it really depends on age group, i.e. in younger group there are more men available whereas in older group there are more women available. For instance, if you look at ages 15-30, there are more guys than girls available for dating, which implies more girls will be taken and more guys will remain single. If you go over 40 it should (logically) reverse as there are more women per men available.

Also, USA has a huge population, when you look at percentages you may not see much difference in number of men or women. Year 2002, total number of people is 282 millions. Out of that, 144 mil are women, which is 51% of population, and 138 mil men, 49% of population. It "looks" pretty much equal, 1:1.

But when you take numbers it shows you that there are 6 millions more women than men. That is A LOT, in one big city it could be tens of thousands more women per men difference.

If you have 100 available females and 100 available males, and there is 75% females taken, it logically means that 75 women and 75 men must be taken - assuming that all are heterosexual. But we also have homosexuals, e.g. there could be 75 women in relationship but only 65 men in relationship, which would make more women taken.


The whole issue is actually quite interesting. There is much less competition for women as they get older, meaning a decent guy should be able to get a women between age 35-42 (perhaps till 45) fairly easy as there is more females per males, and women at this age are still decent looking and sex hungry. They also have good experience. Females at this age can't get a "good" men because most "good" men (35+) are already married, and at the same time many older men are looking for younger age.

Does the word MILF ring a bell? LOL

 

[lux7]

luc,

Eh, I wouldn't take the numbers too seriously. There's also a lot of cases where women are dating men in other cities, even though they live in big cities. In bigger cities, men tend to be single more on average because there's a lot more "naturals" and guys hooking up with women, so they tend to remain single and just play the field.

There's also the case of women "reporting" that they're in relationships with men, but then you find that those same men that they are "in a relationship with" might report that they're single. So misconceptions/lies/etc. might skew the numbers.

When it comes to something so delicate as relationship status for women, it's hard to take an up-front answer from them as the truth since they are still trying to maintain a certain image -- and a woman in a relationship is generally considered more desirable than a woman who is still single.

- Franco

True, reporting mismatch also should account for something.

 

[lux7]

IMO it really depends on age group, i.e. in younger group there are more men available whereas in older group there are more women available. For instance, if you look at ages 15-30, there are more guys than girls available for dating, which implies more girls will be taken and more guys will remain single. If you go over 40 it should (logically) reverse as there are more women per men available.

Also, USA has a huge population, when you look at percentages you may not see much difference in number of men or women. Year 2002, total number of people is 282 millions. Out of that, 144 mil are women, which is 51% of population, and 138 mil men, 49% of population. It "looks" pretty much equal, 1:1.

But when you take numbers it shows you that there are 6 millions more women than men. That is A LOT, in one big city it could be tens of thousands more women per men difference.

If you have 100 available females and 100 available males, and there is 75% females taken, it logically means that 75 women and 75 men must be taken - assuming that all are heterosexual. But we also have homosexuals, e.g. there could be 75 women in relationship but only 65 men in relationship, which would make more women taken.


The whole issue is actually quite interesting. There is much less competition for women as they get older, meaning a decent guy should be able to get a women between age 35-42 (perhaps till 45) fairly easy as there is more females per males, and women at this age are still decent looking and sex hungry. They also have good experience. Females at this age can't get a "good" men because most "good" men (35+) are already married, and at the same time many older men are looking for younger age.

Does the word MILF ring a bell? LOL

Does it..