Athens Named "World's Most Flirtatious City"; New York 89th: Global Study

LONDON, March 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- Badoo.com Analyses 12m Online Flirtations in 180 Countries

- Birthplace of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (and Arianna Huffington) Tops "World Flirtation League"

Athens is today named the "world's most flirtatious city" by the compilers of the largest ever study of online flirting. New York only just makes the top 100, ranking 89th.

The study of "flirtation behaviour" worldwide analyses 12 million flirtations made during a month on Badoo.com (http://www.badoo.com), the world's largest social networking site for meeting new people, with 108 million users chatting and flirting in 180 countries.

Athens tops Badoo's "World Flirtation League", which ranks nearly 200 cities by the number of online flirtations initiated per month by the average user in each.

Moscow ranks second, Rome 8th, Paris 38th and London 57th.

The average Badoo user in Athens initiates 25.7 online flirtations per month - twice as many as in Rio (12.4) or Prague (12.6) and far more than in Paris (20.7), London (19.0) or New York (16.1).

Tunis, birthplace of the "Jasmine Revolution", is among three Arab cities (Kuwait, Tunis, Beirut) to make the world top 10, with three former Soviet ones (Moscow, Kiev, Baku) and three Italian (Turin, Rome, Bari).

"Athens was the birthplace of Socrates, Aristotle, Plato and Western philosophy itself", says Lloyd Price, Badoo's Director of Marketing. "Once again, it leads the world."

Dr Simon Hardy, author of "The Greeks, Eroticism and Ourselves", comments: "It's probably fair to say that the Athenians perfected the art of flirtation in ancient times, especially at the time of symposia [flirtatious drinking parties] described by Plato".

Modern Athenians have continued the tradition, says Victoria Kyriakopoulous, author of The Lonely Planet Guide to Athens: "Athens is a seductive city, with a hedonistic lifestyle. Flirting and sexual banter are part of social interaction."

"Old Athenians flirt. Married ones flirt. Now, young Athenians are simply using technology to do what Athenians have always done."

    WORLD TOP TEN

    RANK CITY            SCORE*
    1    Athens          25.7
    2    Moscow          25.5
    3    Kuwait City     25.4
    4    Baku            24.9
    5    Tunis           24.7
    6    Kiev            24.5
    7    Beirut          24.0
    8=   Turin           23.7
    8=   Rome            23.7
    10   Bari            23.6

    * Number of flirtations initiated monthly by average Badoo user there.
    SOME OTHER MAJOR CITIES

    RANK CITY            SCORE
    38   Paris           20.7
    47   Montreal        19.9
    57   London          19.0
    79   Berlin          17.7
    89   New York        16.1
    151  Rio             12.4

    CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE Badoo.com