Experts say some men in their 40s have an inflated sense of their own attractiveness, owing to the man drought and the competition among women for available blokes of a certain age.
MIDDLE-aged men are being chased so much by single women that they are becoming deluded about their sex appeal.
A drought of mid-40s single men, compared with single women of the same age, means they are fiercely pursued, inflating their opinion of their attractiveness.
KPMG demographer Bernard Salt, author of The Big Tilt: What Happens When Boomers Bust and Xers and Ys Inherit the Earth, says the imbalance has created a monster he dubs the "hotness delusion syndrome".
And in a case of "beware the cougar", he believes a lack of eligible 40-something bachelors will result in more confident, well-educated older women prowling for younger mates.
"An available male in his 40s receives a lot of attention because he's the only thing going around," Mr Salt said.
"He can be balding and paunchy, but this is not what he sees in the mirror. He sees nothing less than trim, taut and, so he is told, terrific."
At 44, there are 15 per cent fewer available males than females. Mr Salt predicts more women will start seeking younger men to fill the void.
"We have a new generation of empowered women ... more likely to have a university degree," he said.
"Women of the previous generation who were in their 40s were less inclined to get out, and did not have as many skills in the workforce."
But "hotness delusion syndrome" was reversed for the sexes in their mid-20s.
At age 25, single men outnumbered single women by 23 per cent because they were competing with older men, he said.
