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She's a Catholic dog owner who likes to knock a few back.

A new survey of 81,000 online daters on the website PlentyofFish reveals which women and men will rise as "the most desirable singles of 2014."

"The PlentyOfFish researchers discovered a 25 year old Catholic woman who owns a dog, describes herself as thin, and drinks alcohol three times a week is more likely to receive the largest number of messages than any other woman," reads a release for the survey.

Or as The Date Report puts it: "Science Says the Ideal Person for Online Dating Is a Skinny 25 Year-Old Drunk Dog Owner Who Goes to Church."

"Data scientists" at PlentyofFish (POF), a free, Canadian-headquartered dating site, scoured the profiles of 81,000 heterosexual American users aged 25 to 35, as well as 1.8 million of their messages. They were trying to lock down the indicators that would predict whether a single person would get a message from the opposite sex this year.

Some findings for the young women:

  • Women aged 25 and 26 got 14.4 per cent more messages than the others in the survey. Women in their Jesus Year suffered a drought: 33-year-old users got the least messages.
  • Women with graduate degrees enjoyed 6.45 per cent more responses; those with only a high school diploma got 10 per cent fewer.
  • Women who don’t drink get 24 per cent fewer messages.
  • Dog-owning women get 5 per cent more messages; no word on the dreaded cat lady.

And some numbers for the gents:

  • Men who earn between $100,000 and $150,000 (U.S.) annually enjoyed 42 per cent more messages from women on the dating website. Guys boasting a doctorate, MD or law degree received 33 per cent more notes.
  • Men who publicly stated that they want children got 23 per cent more responses. Those who “Prefer Not to Say” got dinged with 21 per cent fewer messages; those not into offspring at all missed out even more, landing 42 per cent fewer notes.
  • Guys with lengthier bios (1000 characters or more) scored 59 per cent more replies. Mystery men unable to bang out more than 100 characters about themselves lost 9.75 per cent of their potential message count.
  • Male gingers lose, big time, receiving 50 per cent fewer messages than brown-haired daters.

From the release: "Women are no longer interested in the bad boy who doesn't want to settle down and men are increasingly seeking out educated women who are financially independent. But to a large degree male and female attractions still follow traditional gender roles. Women still place high importance on a man's income and men still give precedence to a woman's age and body size."

January typically spells a flurry of activity on dating sites – it turns out that those without enough on their daunting new year's resolution lists often add "soul mate" to the pile. If the POF findings are any indication, it's time to get boozed up, dogged up and baptized.

Follow me on Twitter: @ZosiaBielski

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