Looking at some of the countries male/female ratio, I notice that most have slightly more females then males. Some notable exceptions including China, where it appears social situations and limits on offspring have raised the ration of males above that of females.
All and all yes there is a difference, but for most the difference appears to be small, but then I though about what about the percentage of the population that is available, in other words chance of finding a mate.
Simplifying thing to just 2 categories to start, those in a relationship, or those looking for a relationship, it appears that the available male/female ratio would be much different and basically ‘higher’ (more extreme) then a simple m/f ratio alone.
So while the m/f ratio of every country does not appear large, it in practicality may be higher then it appears in terms of finding a mate. It may be statistically Add in to other factors, including multiples, non-sexual, homesexual, and ‘undesirables’ and I’m not sure what will happen to the available ratio. But it seems like the odds may be stacked against a gender much more then is apparent by simple m/f ratios.
Further pondering, if someone is in a society with not many available mates due to available gender ratios, it is possible that something changes in some that they may start preferring same gender if more same gender mates are available? Not saying that they chose this, or a LUG’s type of thing, or this is the basis for most homosexuality, but is a person is self programmed to adapt to their environment, and is this a possible outcome, a biological shift of desire from one gender to another.
In the U.S., there are more females than males, but that is mostly because females live longer than males. At younger ages there are slightly more men than women.
But there are more younger men than younger women in prison, which balances things out. I suspect that if you excluded those with serious addiction issues and chronic unemployment, then more men than women would be taken off the market, so to speak.
In the country like the U.S. any problem except in the elderly can be dealt with simply by slightly changing the age range of the opposite sex you find acceptable. But for elderly women there is a massive shortage of available men–because women live longer.
I have never seen this discussed in the media and can provide no cites, only an anecdote from one person.
At my casino job I used to supervise a group of Asians of various nationalities in the Asian Games pit. I became friendly with one Vietnamese man, sometimes socializing with him outside of work. When some cheating problems came up at work he took me into his confidence and told me what was going on, saying the others (who were not involved in the scam) were hesitant about his decision to snitch because he should “stick with his race” (I am white). So I trusted the guy.
During our socializing I learned that he had two wives, both with children. He told me that it was fairly common for Vietnamese men in his age group to have more than one wife because so many of the men had been killed in the war.
Many women would rather be single than settle for a man they don’t want. Sure, some men are that way too but AIUI it’s a more female-prevalent attitude. That can offset a high female-to-male ratio. Even if there are many more women than men, it might not change the dating/relationship dynamic.
The stats from a Pew surveyseem to indicate the opposite. There are, on a percentage basis for those 25 and older, more never married men than women (23% vs, 17%). Since there are only about 3.5% more womenin the US population, it follows that the absolute number of never married males over age 25 exceeds the absolute number of women in the same category.
I says “seems to indicate” because the numbers don’t tell the whole story. It’s entirely possible that 6% of the male population falls into the “absolute reject” category and the “acceptable” unmarried percentage is the same. I’m sure it’s not that simple either, but without deeper analysis it’s impossible to say for sure.
There doesn’t seem to be such an adaptation going on. We’re talking about relatively small, but significant, differences in available mates, so to the individual it’s indistinguishable for “there are no available mates for me”. And there is nothing indicating that long time bachelors turn to homosexuality, despite the out of date euphemistic use of the word.