If laughter is a sign of happiness, then the most joyful place to be this World Happiness Day is Waiuku in the Auckland region; which a new study has revealed to be the home of NZ’s funniest singles.
The study looked at anonymous data from 40,000 of the Kiwis registered with dating site www.elitesingles.co.nz to see how strongly they agreed with the statement ‘I can often make others laugh.’ These scores were then averaged out by area to determine the funniest city in New Zealand.
The results revealed that not only are singles in Waiuku the funniest in the Auckland region, they are also the funniest in the country – or at least the most confident in their ability to make others laugh.
However, while Waiuku residents may be the funniest, they are not the only witty singles in New Zealand. Indeed, just in time for World Happiness day on the 20th of March, the study has uncovered the funniest city in each of the 16 regions:
Funniest places in the North Island
- Northland: Whangerei
- Auckland: Waiuku
- Waikato: Huntly
- Bay of Plenty: Katikati
- Gisborne: Gisborne
- Hawke’ Bay: Napier
- Taranaki: Waitara
- Manuwatu-Wanganui: Palmerston North
- Wellington: Raumati Beach
Funniest places in the South Island
- Tasman: Motueka
- Nelson: Nelson
- Malborough: Blenheim
- West Coast: Greymouth
- Canterbury: Ashburton
- Otago: Wanaka
- Southland: Invercargill
EliteSingles also looked at this same data when broken down by gender and discovered something interesting: those who still think that ‘women aren’t funny’ are quite, quite wrong.
In fact, in 6 out of 16 regions, women beat men to the funny crown, coming out on top in Auckland, the Hawke’s Bay, Manuwatu-Wanganui, Nelson, the West Coast and Otago. In comparison, there were only 5 regions where men’s humour self-ranking outdid that of women: Northland, the Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Malborough and Canterbury. Finally, there were 5 regions in the study where men and women drew for the crown: Waikato, Taranaki, Wellington, Tasman and Southland are all home to men and women who see themselves as equally funny.
And why does this all matter? EliteSingles psychologist Salama Marine thinks that we are fascinated by funny singles because humour can bring us closer to one another: ‘’Laughing together is probably the best sign of a healthy relationship for a couple. Humour and self-mockery definitely help to forge happy memories and the ability to make each other giggle with just a glance creates a strong friendship between two people.’’
For more on this study, please refer to our in-depth article about the funniest New Zealanders
About the author: The EliteSingles Press Team