The UK's underwear preferences revealed

The news in brief(s). Sorry.

YouGov have discovered the reality of what we've got under our clothes, with some interesting results.

The survey splits between men and women, and quizzed respondents about which type of underwear they like to wear. For men the options were loose boxers, tight boxers and briefs (AKA Y fronts). For women the options were briefs, bikini, shorts and thongs.

The most popular for men were loose boxers, being picked as favourite by 38% of men. After that, preference is fairly split between tight fitting boxers on 25% and briefs – the classic “tighty whities” or Y-fronts (which aren't known for being the sexiest of pants) received 27%.

Women showed a strong preference for briefs, with 52% of the vote going to the bigger pants. 11% opted for bikini style, 10% liked shorts and a teeny 8% went for the skimpiest of knickers, the thong.

Interestingly, what each gender chose wasn't very close to what the opposite gender prefer. Only 20% of women liked loose boxers best, despite the fact that they're the male favourite. Women liked tight boxers best (oo-er) a style only embraced by 25% of men.

Men were divided over what they liked women to wear, but the two most popular styles, with 15% each, were bikini and (surprise surprise) thongs, neither of which were big winners with women. Despite the fact that they're preferred by over half of women, briefs only god 14% of the male vote.

Underwear habits seem to change as we get older. Younger men more considerably more likely to favour a tight boxer, whilst men in their sixties and above were the most inclined towards Y-Fronts (lovely). Interestingly, whilst men seem to prefer smaller pants as they get older, women seem to want more fabric to their pants, with 64% of women over the age of 60 wearing briefs.

Women are more likely to wear matching undies as they get older, so if you tend to wear a pink bra with Thursday pants on a Tuesday then there's still hope for you. 22% of women over the age of 60 wear matching underwear every day, contrasted against the 15% of who manage it.

So there you go, that's what the nation likes to wear underneath their clothes (in case you'd ever wondered). No information on how many of us are going commando, though...