For Immediate Release
Tuesday 10 February 2009

Tattoos – More For Her Than Him And Young Adults And Few Have Any Regrets

About one in five adult New Zealanders have been tattooed with women more likely to get one than men and young people.

These findings are from a UMR Research survey of a nationally representative sample of 750 New Zealanders aged 18 years and over .

The survey shows that 19% of adults have been tattooed, but if you are under 30 you are far more likely to have a tattoo than any other age group. In fact, one in three adults (36%) under 30 have been tattooed.
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Tattoos are more common for women too with 22% having been tattooed compared with 17% of men.

“Polynesians gave the English language the word tattoo which is derived from the Samoan word tatau, so it should be no surprise that Pacific Islanders and Māori were also far more likely to have had tattoos than others,” A UMR Director, Tim Grafton, said.

“Only 15% of those who were not Māori or Pacific Islanders in the survey said they had been tattooed, but almost half (47%) Māori and Pacific Islanders had been,” he said.

Interestingly, but possibly a reflection of age, almost one-third (32%) of those with dependent children have had a tattoo compared to 13% of those who have not.

Few have any regrets with 85% of those who have had a tattoo saying they did not regret it. Men though were slightly more likely to regret having had one than women.

ENDS