Babes a Plenty

Tauranga is home to the country's third most attractive singles - and residents in Papamoa Beach give themselves the highest mark on the "sexy" scale, a new study has shown.

The study, which was commissioned by dating site EliteSingles, looked at 20,500 New Zealanders and reveals singles in Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty region are counted among the country's most attractive.

EliteSingles looked at anonymous user data to see how Kiwi singles rate themselves on the "sexy" scale.

Make-up artist and style coach Tina Neville said people are perceived as more fit and healthy because of living in an active region. "In general I think people are outside and are at the beach and they're doing things and getting out and about.

"And because we're a much smaller place you're able to do more with your time." said Mrs Neville.

"There's a dressy and casual dress style here compared to other places like Auckland and Wellington and I notice people wear a lot of colour here, which makes people more attractive, not too serious and appear confident and more laid back."

Residents from Papamoa Beach gave themselves the highest mark on the "sexy" scale in the Bay region.

"As a whole, Papamoa people are generally better looking. It's better on this side of the bridge," Papamoa's ward councillor Steve Morris joked.

"We have a wide age group here in Papamoa and we have a couple of retirement villages here with a few singles that would certainly back those statistics." said Mr Morris.

Mr Morris's advice to attractive singles in Papamoa was, "Don't be scared to commit".

Tauranga singles came a close third behind Christchurch residents and Auckland singles took the top spot to most likely label themselves as attractive.

The top 10 sexiest areas of NZ are:
1. Auckland
2. Christchurch
3. Tauranga
4. Wellington
5. Hamilton
6. Napier
7. New Plymouth
8. Dunedin
9. Kerikeri
10. Taupo