ANALYSIS: Romance in Hawai`i, By The Numbers

By Nate Gaddis / Big Island Now

We comb the Hawai`i state data book for some of the facts and figures about romance in the islands.

Numbers-lovers, hold onto your hats.

The recently completed 2012 edition of the Hawai`i State Data Book has now been released, and over the coming weeks we’ll be combing through it and seeing what the numbers can tell us about life in Hawai`i. Here’s our first edition, regarding sex, love, and marriage across the islands.

Most Breeding Overall

While the state’s birth rate has been in decline over the last 30 years, one island has led the way when it comes to conception.

Although Maui briefly claimed the mantle of most births per 1,000 people (doing so right after the 2008 financial crisis), Oahu has consistently reigned supreme in reproduction, at around 15 new babies for every 1,000 denizens.

Most Cross-Ethnic Breeding

Hawai`i County’s residents happen to be having the most cross-cultural, err… exchanges. A full 29.5% of Big Islanders identify themselves as “hapa,” having two or more ethnicities in their bloodline.

Best Places to Be Single

Sorry ladies, the numbers aren’t in your favor.

That’s because when it comes to unattached Hawai`i residents, women outnumber men on every island. But, single women hoping to play the odds would seem to have the best chance finding a mate on Oahu, where there is almost a 1 to 1 ratio of single females to males (we rounded up for the sake of optimism).

Single women, be warned. Available females outnumber men on the main Hawaiian islands.

Single men wanting to improve their chances should head for Kauai, according to the data, where there are only 83 single men for every 100 single women. Big Island gents face similarly good odds, with 87 single males available for every 100 single females. Maui c0mes in second after Oahu as having better odds for women, with 94 single males for every 100 single women.

But beware ladies, if you’re hoping to tie the knot for life. Hawaii’s men may have a few commitment issues, if the number of never-married fellas is any indication. For every married woman living in the islands, there are 1.3 men who have managed to go through life so far without ever saying “I do.”

That makes Hawaii’s males some of the least likely to commit for the long-haul, ranking in the bottom four states according to national-level marriage statistics.

Note, we’ve made no effort here to account for sexual orientation, and those figures could certainly skew your chances of finding a mate up or down, depending on your preference. But we’ll leave that analysis to more sophisticated statisticians.

Check back for future editions of By the Numbers.