SHANGHAI - At a time when the number of male bachelors in the 30-44 age group is shrinking in Shanghai, that of single women in the same age demographic seems to be on the rise, said a survey from Shanghai Bureau of Statistics.

A comparison was made between the male-female ratio of older singles (defined as those aged between 30 and 44) between 2000 and 2010. The number of older unmarried men dropped by 2.2 per cent in 10 years, while that of older unmarried women increased by 3.4 per cent from 2000 to 2010.

The survey was based on data collected from the sixth national census.

A matchmaking party coming up on Nov 12 and 13, would illustrate that visually. A greater number of single women will be vying for the attention of a relatively less number of eligible bachelors, according to the organizer.

"We sold about 10,000 tickets for the matchmaking event to be held this weekend, which made us the city's largest ever matchmaking party," said Wang Weiming, vice-president of Shanghai Matchmaking Agency Management Association, one of the co-organizers. "However, single women might be up against stiff competition, as there will be six females for every four males."

"I'm either in the middle of a blind date or on my way to it during all of my holidays," said 27-year-old Dong Shuangyan, who was single.

Another interesting phenomenon, according to Wang, was that over 2,000 tickets were sold to parents who would attend the event. "We will have a special corner for the parents, who are desperate to advertise information about their grown-up sons and daughters, in the hope of finding them a life partner," he said.

Dong said her father would seize every opportunity to find her a partner. "I keep overhearing him talking on the phone, trying to sell me to his friends or relatives, who might be knowing of a likely match for me," she said.

Organizers also mentioned that the event was a sell-out, in fact, the number of eager people wanting to participate turned out to be twice of what they had expected. "We expected an even split between the numbers of women and men, but we had to stop registering women a week ahead of the event, for the sake of maintaining a gender balance," said Wang.

Wang said an event such as this was badly needed in Shanghai as people of prime marriageable age, especially women with high educational backgrounds and good incomes, were having trouble in finding partners.

Yu Jiamei, a matchmaker who has been in the business for decades, said she could not agree more.

"Finding a good match for women in the 33-36 age group is the most difficult," she says. "They're picky in terms of looking for men with comparable levels of salary and educational background. But men in that age group prefer younger and prettier girls," she said.

Yu said women in their 30s would not readily lower their ideal standard when it came to choosing a partner. This trend was often leaving them without finding any.