What are people attracted to in Nottingham and the East Midlands?

Advertisement Feature

thinkmoney recently carried out some research* to find out what people find attractive in the East Midlands - and the rest of the UK.

It turns out that people's perceptions of what other people find attractive are much different to what they actually value in a partner.

What do people in the East Midlands think women want?

Both men and women seem to have a bit of a skewed view of what women are attracted to. Women in the East Midlands thought that other women were most interested in looks (47%), a high salary (41%), a good sense of humour (39%) and a good job (31%) in a partner.

Men agreed that a high salary (47%), good looks (39%), a sense of humour (33%) and a good job (26%) were important to women looking for a potential partner.

What do women actually want?

For this, we'll look at the figures from the whole of the UK.

95% of the women asked in the research were attracted to men. They said they most valued a good sense of humour (74%), good conversation skills (46%) and intelligence (40%) in a potential partner. Lots of money (6%) and having a good job (13%) were much less important overall.

The women who were attracted to other women valued similar traits, such as a good sense of humour (66%), sharing the same interests (46%) and intelligence (41%). A potential partner having lots of money (7%) and a good job (5%) was relatively unimportant. This was quite a small sample, however - so it may not be representative of the UK population as a whole.

What do people in the East Midlands think men want?

Men in the East Midlands think that other men are most attracted to good looks (64%), a good sense of humour (33%) and good cooking skills (24%). In the opinion of the men asked, other men found that it reasonably important for their potential partner to have money (20%) and a good job (17%).

East Midlands Women agree that men are attracted to people who are good looking (70%), well dressed (36%), good at cooking (36%) with a sense of humour (31%). However, women in the East Midlands do not think that men find a high salary (1%) or a good job (5%) important at all.

Out of the 92% of men asked (in the whole of the UK) who were attracted to women, however, a good sense of humour (68%), intelligence (45%) and good looks (44%) were priorities in a potential partner. Having a good job and lots of money were unimportant (3%).

Of the men attracted to other men in the UK as a whole, the top three priorities in a potential partner were a good sense of humour (55%), good conversation (36%), and having the same interests (34%). Again, a partner having a good job (7%) and money (3%) weren't really important considerations.

What can we learn from this?

A spokesperson from thinkmoney said: "People in the East Midlands - and the rest of the UK - seem to have two different standards for what they find attractive, and what they think other people want in a partner.

"From this research, it looks like - although people think that money is important to others - that traits such as a sense of humour, intelligence, and having the same interests are much more valued in reality. Looks do play a part to a degree, but only when paired with other, less superficial traits."

*Opinium Research carried out an online survey of 2012 UK adults aged 18+ from 22nd to 24th January 2013. Results have been weighted to nationally representative criteria.