KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's man drought is worsening, as the numbers of young men living here shrivels annually.
Statistics New Zealand's latest figures for the estimated resident population show that women outnumber men by 64,600. The 35-39 age group is the toughest dating group for women to crack - they
outnumber men by more than 12,800.
And in the 30 to 34 age group, they outnumber men by more than 11,000.
It doesn't start out that way. More male babies are born than female babies, and boys outnumber girls through the childhood and teen years. They're still ahead in the 20 to 24 age group, where men outnumber women by 6700. But it's all downhill after that.
In the 25 to 29 age bracket, women outnumber men by 2300, and the number leaps in the 30s.
The man shortage has steadily increased in the past 10 years. Statistics New Zealand figures show 50,600 more women than men in 1996.
Demographers say several factors are causing the increasing gender gap, including the Kiwi tradition of the overseas experience. More young men leave New Zealand than women, and the men stay away longer.
In addition, more men die in their 20s, from accidents, suicide, illness and conflict. Added to that, immigration figures show that more women arrive in New Zealand than men, filling jobs such as nursing.
Demographers say the man shortage is worse in urban areas, as educated men and women move to the cities looking for job and career opportunities - and, anecdotally, a better pool of potential partners.
But unskilled women also move to the cities for the same reasons - better job opportunities and a better chance of meeting Mr Right. That leaves the provinces with a surplus of unskilled men and the cities with too many women.
The 1986 Census was the first to record more women than men in the 30s age group. Since then the gap has increased sharply with every census. The 2006 Census figures are due out this week and are expected to show an even larger gap between the male and female population in their 30s.
However, Richard Bedford, professor of geography at Waikato University, is suspicious of the extent of the gap between the sexes.
While he acknowledges the gap and the reasons behind the shortage of men, he does not think the numbers are as great as indicated by Statistics New Zealand.
Instead, he suspects that men in their 30s have been under-counted for various reasons - because they are transient, living in temporary accommodation which might be difficult to visit, or missed, and because some might not fill in their census forms. Women were more likely to take the time and trouble to complete the form, he said.
Aware of the problem, Statistics New Zealand is reviewing its data-collecting methods and is looking at alternatives.
Whatever the true figure of the male shortage, experts agree it is unlikely to improve in the coming years. As KPMG Population Growth Report 2005 pointed out, a 32-year-old Kiwi woman had as much chance of finding a male partner her own age as did an 82-year-old woman.
If single 30-something women find that depressing, spare a thought for their Alaskan counterparts, who have the opposite problem.
Men out-number women 10 to 1 in Alaska, but the favourite saying among women there is, "The odds are good, but the goods are odd".
