Single Man In Your 20’s? Famous Economist Explains Why You Shouldn’t Worry

Dear Single Guys,

Let’s be real. Women generally have the upper hand when it comes to dating in your 20s.

But it turns out there is quantifiable data that suggests this changes as we age.

If you’re worrying about being single in your 20s, don’t sweat it. The best is yet to come. Just ask Stanford economist Paul Oyer and author of the wildly popular book Everything I Needed To Learn About Economics I Learned From Online Dating.

Check out these 5 reasons Paul Oyer found that will give you twenty-something guys a little more to look forward to. 

1. Women are more inclined to rethink on the idea of “perfection”

Some eligible women in their 20s with a large dating pool are looking for the absolute best–their soulmate or the perfect guy. Between societal messages of storybook romances and a seemingly never ending stream of options, it makes sense. But oftentimes, with age and experience this idea is abandoned for something more reasonable.

Paul Oyer has this message for women trying to date in their later years who have accepted that perfection doesn’t exist, “[I suggest] flipping the narrative from “settling” for someone who isn’t perfect to finding a partner ‘who is really great,’ he said.”

What does this mean for you?

It means that the women you’ll find as you’re dating when you’re older are going to have a more realistic idea of dating and men.

2. Scarcity in big cities

Oyer has found that “eligible men are indeed scarcer than available women, especially in major U.S. cities” (NYMag.com).  “From Oyer’s economics perspective, this is a simple problem of supply and demand.”

3. The upside of a shorter life span?

Men have a shorter life span than women, which creates a pool of single men past the age of 30 that is significantly smaller than that of their female counter parts.

Oyer explains it like this:

“Because women live longer than men and (I’m just speculating here, but I think this is true) men are disproportionately willing to remain single, women your age are in ample supply and not-so-high demand. There are lots of single women in their 60s for every man in his 60s, so many of the single men in their 70s are able to find women in their 60s and so on down the age range.”

Because the pool of men gets smaller as men get older, younger women are more inclined to date older men.

4. Youth and beauty & success and money

It seems as if there are some truth to the stereotypes. Data suggests that many women are indeed looking for a partner that is economically stable. This, of course, often come with age as your career develops. 

In the least surprising study of the year, the stats also suggest that men are attracted to youth and beauty. So really this is a win-win for everyone.

You’ll have a gorgeous mate, and she’ll have you at your peak of success.

5.  Online dating makes dating as an older person easier

Before Match and OkCupid, older singles had to find potential dates through work, friends, and those (awful) singles’ cruises. Since many people’s social circles shrink as they get older, dating in your 40s, 50s, 60s used to be damn near impossible.

The game has changed, though.

Dating when you’re older is made much simpler through technology, so there’s no need to worry that you won’t know where to find other singles when you’re older.

Get Connected

What are your anxieties about growing older and dating?

Do you enjoy online dating or do you prefer to meet potential partners in real life?

Share your thoughts and opinions with other social men in a comment below.