Some thoughts on how the global dating scene has shifted for AM recently, with my personal experience across 8 regions.
Hello everyone, I originally shared this post in AM , and a few fellows PM’ed me and suggested I cross-post this here. Just wanted to share what I’ve observed from my travels and hope my insights can bring some value to this community : )
-
Heyyy guys, just inspired the other posts, so I've been thinking to organize my experience and share some of my perspectives.
Below is a broad overview of what the dating landscape looks like across major regions, based on my personal experiences and some of my thoughts!
A bit of context: I got a fully remote job so I've been traveled to many places over years, and trying (really hard) to date everywhere lol. There are definitely some bias and personal encounter yeah, but still think there are some changes about AM dating markets all over the world in the past few years.
Just a quick disclaimer: I am an East Asian guy, so my perspective will naturally lean toward the East Asian experience. I understand that "Asian" represents a massive, diverse group of people with different backgrounds. However, I truly believe these global changes are all interconnected, and the most fascinating part for me is seeing how the traditional dating market is genuinely changing.
-
1. East Asia (mainly Korea, Japan, China)
I spent a long time in East Asia during my school years, so I could personally feel the shift in status for Asian (especially local East Asian) men over the past few decades.
Of course, most local girls always date local guys anyway, but that old obsession with Western white culture used to make East Asian men feel like they were a step behind in terms of looks or romance. This even created a specific group of girls who would "only date foreigners."
However, that's definitely not the case anymore in recent years.
Probably thanks to the Hallyu/K wave or C-dramas, local East Asian girls are starting to consciously appreciate Asian features more. Guys with Japanese or Korean styles can now completely stand on the same level as Western white aesthetics, or even higher.
Plus, our cultural affinity and shared language mean we are no longer at a disadvantage. Especially those 8, 9, 10 girls—they are usually more willing to date local, high-quality Asian men now.
-
2. South East Asia (mainly Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia):
This place is literally where you can see the rise of Asian men's dating status with your own eyes. This region has the highest density of hyper-connected K-pop fans and social media users in the world.
What other posts mentioned is 100% real: crazy matches (like 50+ likes within an hour) and an insane number of dates. Walking down the street, you constantly get stared at, and some people even come up to ask for photos. It literally feels like being a celebrity.
(*Worth mentioning, I think daygame pickup is actually way more fun and challenging than dating apps here, but that’s another story haha).
One thing I want to add: based on my chats with a few local girls, I noticed quite a few of them straight up refuse to date anyone who isn't Asian (not sure if that’s a good or bad thing lol).
At the same time, they feel too much of a cultural gap with Western white guys (probably because of the whole Western "passport bro" culture).
Long story short, this means the pyramid of the dating market is genuinely shifting!
-
3. Europe (mainly UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria):
Even though I’ve been to quite a few countries in Europe, the difference between each country is huge. Plus, Europe is just a super diverse place where everyone has their own aesthetics and dating values, so it’s really hard to generalize.
In Western Europe, from what I've seen, even though traditional Eurocentric biases are still there, there are larger immigrant populations. So culturally it’s more diverse and open, making it easier to find groups that appreciate Asian men.
Eastern Europe was an interesting experience. Even though the culture and demographics are more homogenous and even traditionally conservative, people were surprisingly open to interacting with Asian guys (my matches on apps were unexpectedly high, 50+ matches in a few days).
They don't have that specific racial stereotype about Asians like people do in the US (even though you will still get stared at constantly while walking on the streets in places like Bulgaria or Poland).
-
4. America:
I stayed here for a short bit because of work, and honestly, it felt like a pretty contradictory country.
It seems like the culture is the most open to accepting K-pop and there's a huge Asian population, but the racial stereotypes against Asian guys in the dating market are still super heavy.
When it came to actual dating, my experience felt a bit like big cities in Western Europe—because of the large immigrant communities, you can always find a niche where people share a similar aesthetic.
-
5. South Central America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico):
Here is another crazy place, you can also describe here as a wester version of Southeast Asia. But the mechanism is a bit different.
East Asian guys are extremely scarce in Latin America!
Combined with the natural passion of local girls, the K-wave, and basic market supply-and-demand, dating app matches here are also completely insane. And their attitude toward physical touch is way more open!
For Asian guys, one thing worth noting is that to date in Latin America, you really need to understand alcohol, music, and dancing.
You also need to know how to flirt in that more direct, Western way (which is quite different from East Asia and Southeast Asia).
-
6. Other area: India & Bangladesh:
I stayed here for just a few days. Originally, I thought it was just a deeply religious place where people happen to love Chinese dramas or K-pop, so I assumed local women wouldn't be interested in casual dating with a traveler.
Turns out I was totally wrong! Matching on dating apps in India was crazy, and in the capital of Bangladesh, I met a group of young locals who love drinking and partying. Their mindset toward emotional and physical intimacy was super mature and Westernized.
-
7. Other area: Turkey & Syria:
Also stayed here for a few weeks for traveling, and man, this is a magical place! Half the people will completely ignore you, but the other half are absolutely crazy about Asian culture.
Even though dating apps feel like a dead sea here, you can still find the crowd that loves Asian guys through real-life interactions at clubs or tourist spots. But just like South Asia, you do need to keep the local girls' religious backgrounds in mind!
-
8. Other area: Australia:
My experience in Australia was pretty similar to the US, and honestly, maybe even worse in some ways (?)
The interaction between local Aussie white people and Asian international students is basically zero. You can tell directly just by looking at where they hang out on weekends and their nightlife.
One day, a Korean friend of mine who was studying in Sydney took me out for drinks. The bars and clubs we went to were completely different from where local Aussies go, they were literally in different neighborhoods lol.
Don't even get me started on dating apps—it’s almost impossible to match with any local Australians.
But interestingly, the international student and language school scene is super diverse and wild, but that's another story!
-
That's pretty much it, thanks for reading :)
Note: I’m definitely not trying to imply any ethnicity hierarchy or superiority here—I’m purely looking at this from a bit like socio-economic perspective and sharing my personal observations.
BTW, I also wrote a more detailed, analytical breakdown on medium and put together a raw PDF guide covering the top cities based on my matching data, feel free to check it out on my reddit profile!
Let me know if you guys have any common experience or even opposite one!