Some women over 40 in Otago may find it difficult to find a male partner their age or older because women outnumber men by more than 3500, according to the 2006 census.
There were 46,140 women aged 40 and above compared with 42,576 men.
Those women who would like a partner in the same age bracket would find it hardest in the 85+ range where there were only 885 men compared with 2256 women.
The only two age bands where men outnumbered women were in the 50 to 54 age group (150 more) and the 60 to 64-year-olds (45 more).
In the age brackets where there were more women than men, the biggest differences were in the 80 to 84 range (867 more), 75 to 79 (456), and 40 to 44 (396).
Those women who may have turned 40 since the census will not find much comfort either because the 35 to 39-year-olds outnumbered the men by 618.
