Single women are most confident in these cities

Hamburg, March 11, 2021. Searching for a partner online – millions of Germans are already doing it. The common assumption is that women tend to be more reserved when looking for a partner and let men make the first move. An analysis by online dating agency LemonSwan now shows that women are confidently searching for Mr. Right and, unlike men, even rate themselves as attractive more often. An anonymous evaluation of LemonSwan members in the ten largest cities reveals how Germany's singles see themselves, who is more likely to make the first move, and which city is the dating hotspot in this country.

LemonSwan evaluation of activity and self-assessment in online dating

While men are actually more active in making the first contact across all age groups in the ten cities

— this was the case in 70 percent of cases — the evaluation showed that women

of different ages deal with the topic of first contact with varying degrees of confidence.

Nationwide, women in the 31 to 40 age group are the most proactive and, on average, initiate every

second first contact. They are closely followed by women between the ages of 41 and 49, who write first in 41 percent of cases. Single women over the age of 60, on the other hand, let men make the first move: in about 80 percent of cases, men over the age of 60 write the first message on LemonSwan.

Attractiveness – an important factor when it comes to finding a partner

Here, too, the evaluation reveals some interesting findings: when assessing their own attractiveness, men on LemonSwan tend to be modest: one in four single men on LemonSwan described themselves as “normal” and one in three (30 percent) considered themselves attractive. While only around 13 percent of women classified themselves as “normal,” they are more confident about their attractiveness: A full 14 percent say they are “very attractive,” while only nine percent of male singles on LemonSwan would describe themselves as such. The 31 to 40 age group stands out in particular: 43 percent rate themselves as “extremely attractive,” the highest possible level.

Sexy north: Singles in Hamburg find themselves most attractive

In a Germany-wide comparison, singles from Hamburg are the most confident: ten percent of men and seven percent of women find themselves “extremely attractive.” One in six women describe themselves as “very attractive,” and ten percent of men claim the same. In a gender comparison, most single women in Frankfurt am Main are confident about themselves. Here, seven percent of female LemonSwan members say they find themselves “extremely attractive” and one in five “very attractive,” while only four and 14 percent of men there rate themselves that way. According to the LemonSwan analysis, the most modest singles in Germany are found in Leipzig. One in four men from Leipzig describe themselves as “normal” when looking for a partner online, compared to 21 percent of women.

Women in Leipzig are most likely to make the first move

Even though Leipzig's singles tend to be rather modest in their self-perception when it comes to finding a partner, women there are more likely to take the initiative than the national average:

In 41 percent of cases, they are the first to write to a man on LemonSwan. While women in Dortmund are the most reserved of all the age groups surveyed in a nationwide comparison, the 31 to 40-year-old single women stand out here: they are the first to write to their counterpart in 65 percent of initial contacts.

About the methodology

LemonSwan examined the behavior of its members in Germany's ten largest cities between January 2020 and February 2021. LemonSwan has a total of around 350,000 members, 56 percent of whom are women.

About LemonSwan

LemonSwan is a dating agency for long-term relationships that aims to make online dating more enjoyable, especially for women. Founded in 2017 by Arne Kahlke and Paul Uhlig and based in Hamburg, the company uses a scientifically based personality test, the LemonSwan® method, to provide tailor-made partner suggestions. The trademark of the young company is the swan—because these animals are faithful to their partners for life. For more information, visit www.lemonswan.com

LemonSwan press team:

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