For many, marriage is an expression of true love. In a traditional Christian wedding service both couples say “I vow to love you and care for you as long as we both shall live.” However recent statistics suggest, finding that one special person is becoming harder, as the sex-ratio and dispersion of males and females across the world is changing.
In 2010 there were 62.22 Million people in the world, with a sex ratio of 1.06 male/ female (World Fact Book, 2011). This means there is slightly more males than females currently on the planet. This ratio is on the decline; the number of males is increasingly outweighing the number of females. In China the male/female ratio was .944 in 2001, which later fell to .926 in 2011. In America the ratio fell from 1.029 in 2001, to 1.025 in 2011 (Registrar General & Census, 2006).
Such figures are contradicted by Fisher’s evolutionary principle (Fisher, 1930); the ratio of males to females in all species should be 1:1 because this is evolutionarily stable. If this ratio was skewed positively or negatively, the balance between males and females would be affected. This would mean mating opportunities would increase for males if there were fewer of them as there would be less competition. Likewise, if there were fewer females they would have a greater choice of males to pick from. In Bangor the sex ratio is distorted and does not represent the equal 1:1 ratio. In the academic year 2005/06 75% of Bangor University Psychology students were female and 25% were male (Bangor University, 2011). (Lucky guys is all I can say!!)
The map below shows the total distribution of males and females across the world.
This Map is from 2006. It indicates the human sex ratio by country.
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red = Countries with more females than males.
Green = Countries with the same number of males and females.
Blue = Countries with more males than females.
Grey = No data
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For specific population numbers and sex ratios for each country, please follow the link to see the table. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC102777/table/TN0x9872ab8.0x9b1e448/
As seen, the distribution of males to females is not 1.06 throughout all countries, as current statistics suggest it is overall, or 1:1 as theory suggests it should be. In the year 2000 there were more females in Europe, America and Oceania. These are predominately westernised societies. There were more males in the collectivist societies. Since 1960 there has been an increase in the number of males in Africa and a greater dispersion of females in America and Australia.
With female numbers not rising as quickly as males, and higher proportion of males specifically located in Africa and Asia… it does suggest finding that one special person is becoming logistically more difficult! Although Fishers theory suggests fluctuations in the sex ratio are natural as long as it returns to 1:1. But If the male to female ratio continues to widen (as previous research suggests it will do,) it could mean half the male population are left without a partner! While for women, the best chance of finding a man is in Africa and Asia… little tricky if you live in the UK!!!
References
Bangor University. (2011). Frequently asked questions. Retrieved from http://www.bangor.ac.uk/psychology/undergraduate/faq_links/faq.php.en?catid=&subid=7681#36
Fisher, R. A. (1930). The genetical theory of natural selection. APA Psyc NET. Retrieved from http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1930-04698-000
Registrar General & Census. (2006). Population projections for India and States, 2001-2026. Report of the Technical Group on Population Projection. Retrieved from
http://nrhm-mis.nic.in/UI/Public%20Periodic/Population_Projection_Report_2006.pdf
World Fact Book. (2011). Sex ratio. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved from
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2018.html
sarric 
Love this post! 😀
I think this is a really fun and interesting blog topic! I like how you’ve used statistics in a real life example, and one which concerns a lot of people-finding love. I think it’s good the amount of statistical evidence you’ve used to back up your points is good I think you could have maybe talked about the more human side of things, individual differences and what “love” really is to give your post a bit of balance. People after all aren’t just numbers and a lot of other factors go in to finding someone to settle down with.
I have really enjoyed this post as it is relevant to today’s society. However, I think that the view/approach which you have chosen to follow with this topic is only one of many. For example, have you considered the increase in relation to same sex love/relationships? In a article printed by the Guardian, it states that 3.6 million people in Britain claim to be gay or lesbian. (http://www.guardian.co.uk) Therefore based on the increasing figures of same sex relationships does it really matter how many females or males live in a certain area when it comes to finding true love! (I myself still am slightly confused as to what true love actually is!) Overall, I feel that the topic you have chosen is extremely interesting and I am positive that you will continue to surprise us with more new and exciting information 🙂
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Firstly, I have to say that I really enjoyed this blog because it’s different; you have managed to use statistics to look at an aspect of everyday life (an extremely important one at that). I think that it would have been good to include a couple of definitions of what love is. The importance of finding that “one special person” depends on culture because to some the norm is polygamy (having more than one partner). However, I suppose that this could maybe be explained by the sex ratio i.e. in some parts of Africa polygyny is norm (where a man has more than one wife) and this may reflect the fact that some parts have less men than women, therefore for reproductive purposes etc it may be best to have more than one wife. The same applying to polyandry (when a female has more than one husband), occuring in areas where there are less women than men. Your figures very nicely reflect how love changes over time too.
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What can I say , women rules but at least it gives us an excuse to be single. We can always say that we do not have a bf because there is not enough males on this planet . Maybe the reason for low marriages rate and more women is that we have got to high recruitments. According to Buss (1980)evolutionary theory , males strive to look for female that is attractive (as this increases the chances of reproduction) whereas women tend to go for a men that can provide for family (is rich in other terms). With raising rate of unemployment ,maybe women are more picky and therefore are more likely to stay on their own ( statistics for unemployment in UK http://www.google.co.uk/publicdata/explore?ds=z8o7pt6rd5uqa6_&met_y=unemployment_rate&idim=country:uk&fdim_y=seasonality:sa&dl=en&hl=en&q=unemployment+rates) .
Hovewer its a males fault that there is more women than men. According to the developmental psychologists doing the contraception period its male chromosome that defines the sex of the child (Valerie J.Grant 1996). Therefore there has to be something wrong with nowadays males that they cannot produce a male offspring .
In conclusion I loved your blog topic ,, it was so interesting as i did not realise there is more women in the world. I think in order to maximise males reproductively success of another male we should look closely at them and see what wrong with them is.
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