Is New Zealand in the midst of a man drought? It depends where you live and how old you are.

While data from the 2013 census shows there are only about 82 single men for every 100 single women, it also reveals that the so-called man drought might be just the opposite for women under the age of 30 and for those living in rural areas.

READ MORE: Singletown NZ: Where do the most single people live?

On the one hand, single men comfortably outnumber single women in mostly rural areas like the Southland and Otorohanga Districts.

On the the other, there are about four single women for every three single men in places like Napier, Whanganui, Whangarei and Porirua.

WORST MAN DROUGHT SPOTS

The map above shows a broadly urban/rural divide. There's a healthy ratio of single men to single women in most rural areas but the bachelors are typically outnumbered in urban spots.



Examining the country in close detail, a few places stand out. Showing as a deep purple on the map, the top ten man drought spots in the country all have at least two single women for every one single man. In Matakana, north of Auckland, the ratio of single women to men is almost three to one. At St John's Hill, in Whanganui, it's two to one.

A common thread across all of the areas with a man drought is the relatively high median age.

Places like central Gore (median age, 60), Waikanae Park (61) and Ngawhatu, near Nelson (52), have more than twice as many single women as men but also have a median age much higher than the national median of 38. This matches the national trend for dwindling numbers of single men per single women as people get older, which is reflected in the graph below.







WORST WOMEN DROUGHT SPOTS



The large chunks of the map in darkest green are heaviest on the ground with single blokes. The military bases - Linton in Palmerston North and Burnham near Christchurch - are overwhelmingly young, male and single. At the time of the 2013 census, at Linton, there were 342 single men and 72 single women. At Burnham, there were 420 single men and 96 single women. Both had a median age of just under 23 years.



Areas dominated by prison populations, like Paparua, are similarly dominated by single men.

There are spots in most of the big cities, too, where bachelors outnumber bachelorettes. In a part of central Christchurch labelled Avon Loop, there were 963 single men and 636 single women. In central parts of New Plymouth, Hamilton and Dunedin, single men were in the majority. Much of central Auckland is a shade of green on the map, too.

ABOUT THE DATA

The latest census, carried out in March 2013, provided a rich vein of information about single life in New Zealand.

However, it is not without its flaws.

People will have moved and relationship status changed since March 2013.

It's also important to note that people were only counted as single or partnered if they volunteered that information. Well over a million people were happy to state that they were single, but a significant minority of about 237,000 people preferred not to say what their relationship status was.