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The new James Bond movie may have been pushed back into 2021, but it looks as though the 007 effect is working its magic nonetheless: British accents have been voted the world’s sexiest in our annual survey of city-dwellers, beating French into second place. Oh là là, as they say!
The world’s sexiest accent is the latest finding from the 2020 edition of our Time Out Index survey, in which (among other, less controversial things) we asked more than 37,000 people in upwards of 30 countries which accent they found sexiest.
In a result that’ll strike some (not least, most Brits) as unexpected, British accents took a whacking 25 percent of the overall vote.
The British accent was voted the absolute hottest on earth, coming top in countries as far-flung as Sweden, China, India and the USA.
A British brogue was particularly desirable in Asia, with South Korea and Malaysia also finding UK accents too hot to handle. Japan specifically went weak at the knees for an English accent, while Irish respondents were most likely to dig a Scottish accent. (The UK itself, meanwhile, named Irish accents the sexiest.)
Although French accents are often stereotyped as the world’s sexiest, they came second globally, with 16 percent of the worldwide vote. Countries that named French accents the most alluring included Australia, Brazil, Russia and Turkey, as well as France’s neighbours Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
Italian accents were named the third sexiest with 15 percent of the votes worldwide, triumphing in Spain, France and Portugal. Spanish and Irish accents rounded out the top five, followed by Australian and American.
Only one country in the survey voted for its own accent as the sexiest. Big up Thailand for showing us all how to self-appreciate!
Finally, when asked for a specific place with the sexiest accent of all, respondents were most likely to name London, Paris, Rome, Edinburgh (and Scotland generally), Porto and Madrid. So if you’re looking for a 2021 trip that comes with some serious ear candy, a European city break might be just your cup of tea.
Meanwhile, the world’s best cities for 2021 have also been revealed!