Male and female Finns who contracted cross-national marriages had spouses from very different countries. We tested the possibility that this might reflect sexual selection, with nationality being a proxy for certain kinds of social status. It is predicted from evolutionary theory that females tend to sexually select for status to a greater extent than do males, who rather select for youth and beauty. Across the 36 out of 161 countries of origin for which there were sufficient numbers of immigrant spouses, we found that the ratio of wives from richer countries to Finnish husbands was less than 1, which was, consistent with the hypothesis, which was also the case for the ratio of husbands from poorer countries to Finnish wives. A few exceptions to this general pattern could plausibly be explained by particular circumstances regarding these countries. A careful consideration of alternative explanations did not render any one more convincing than the proposed dimorphic pattern of inherited mate preferences.