As the authors note health index is related inversely with preference for masculinity. However, there are some interesting cases:

Canada and the USA have similar (high) masculinity preferences, even though they differ substantially in the health index.

Iceland and Norway (small sample sizes, but we can combine the two) have a good health index as does Sweden, but a much stronger preference than masculinity than Sweden.

The vast majority of EU nations are around ~0.4 in the masculinity preference index.





Another untested factor is the racial makeup of different nations. It is fairly striking that the top nations in masculinity preference (we can exclude Bulgaria with its small sample) are all the ones with the longest histories of racial co-existence. This may have altered attractiveness standards in these countries, as the Caucasoids within each country may have altered perceptions of attractiveness due either to familiarization with other races or (conversely) due to a desire to distance themselves from them phenotypically.









Proceedings of the Royal Society B doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.2184



The health of a nation predicts their mate preferences: cross-cultural variation in women's preferences for masculinized male faces



Lisa M. DeBruine et al.



Abstract



Recent formulations of sexual selection theory emphasize how mate choice can be affected by environmental factors, such as predation risk and resource quality. Women vary greatly in the extent to which they prefer male masculinity and this variation is hypothesized to reflect differences in how women resolve the trade-off between the costs (e.g. low investment) and benefits (e.g. healthy offspring) associated with choosing a masculine partner. A strong prediction of this trade-off theory is that women's masculinity preferences will be stronger in cultures where poor health is particularly harmful to survival. We investigated the relationship between women's preferences for male facial masculinity and a health index derived from World Health Organization statistics for mortality rates, life expectancies and the impact of communicable disease. Across 30 countries, masculinity preference increased as health decreased. This relationship was independent of cross-cultural differences in wealth or women's mating strategies. These findings show non-arbitrary cross-cultural differences in facial attractiveness judgements and demonstrate the use of trade-off theory for investigating cross-cultural variation in women's mate preferences.



Link PS: You can download the paper and other face-related research at the Facelab doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.2184Lisa M. DeBruine et al.Recent formulations of sexual selection theory emphasize how mate choice can be affected by environmental factors, such as predation risk and resource quality. Women vary greatly in the extent to which they prefer male masculinity and this variation is hypothesized to reflect differences in how women resolve the trade-off between the costs (e.g. low investment) and benefits (e.g. healthy offspring) associated with choosing a masculine partner. A strong prediction of this trade-off theory is that women's masculinity preferences will be stronger in cultures where poor health is particularly harmful to survival. We investigated the relationship between women's preferences for male facial masculinity and a health index derived from World Health Organization statistics for mortality rates, life expectancies and the impact of communicable disease. Across 30 countries, masculinity preference increased as health decreased. This relationship was independent of cross-cultural differences in wealth or women's mating strategies. These findings show non-arbitrary cross-cultural differences in facial attractiveness judgements and demonstrate the use of trade-off theory for investigating cross-cultural variation in women's mate preferences.

Some observations:An untested factor is variation in the levels of facial masculinity across different nations. Differences in preference may not reflect differences in health, but rather differences in average facially-expressed masculinity. It would be interesting to use anthropometric data to test this possible influence, as "White" populations from different nations are not anthropometrically equivalent.