This Is the Most Beautiful Cat Breed in the World

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Oct 30, 2:00PM EDT

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This Is the Most Beautiful Cat Breed in the World — © witua / Flickr

There are 600 million cats in the world. Just over 200 million have owners. The rest are strays. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, 32 million households in America have a cat. Cats probably started living with people around 3700 years ago.

Car owners can be particular about which breeds they own. Short hair domestic cats are the most popular in America. Many fewer people in the U.S. own more exotic breeds which include Persian and Bombay cats.

All About Cats set out to identify the world’s most beautiful cats in a piece of research titled “Beautiful Cats: The Golden Ratio Reveals The Most Beautiful Cat Breeds“. The methodology is idiosyncratic, so many cat owners will not agree with it.

The way that the study calculates cat beauty is to measure the distance between different places on this cat’s face. These include the eyes, nose, and mouth. Apparently, the same methodology is used to measure movie stars and celebrities. The ideal ratio is 1.62. According to Britannica, this measure originated with the ancient mathematician Euclid and involves a complex formula.

The researcher picked two cats with scores of 1.65–the best. These are the “Norwegian Forest” and “Russian Blue”. The study describes the “Norwegian Forest”: “This gorgeous cat breed is known for its regal looks and long, thick coat. They tend to be quite large, with adults weighing in at roughly 12-16 pounds and standing at around 9-12 inches tall.” Its description of the “Russian Blue”–“Their silvery coloring and green eyes make them a particularly striking cat, so they are an incredibly popular breed.” The price to buy each of these breeds is about $1,000.

In all the study measures 46 car breeds. The ugliest is the “Himalayan” which gets a score of 56.87.

Will the research affect what breeds people keep as companions? Almost certainly not. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Click here to see the most beautiful cat breed in the world

46. Himalayan
> Ratio: 58.49
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 56.9

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45. Peterbald
> Ratio: 19.78
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 18.2

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44. Persian
> Ratio: 7.49
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 5.9

43. Exotic Shorthair
> Ratio: 3.83
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 2.2

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42. Singapura
> Ratio: 3.37
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 1.8

41. Havana Brown
> Ratio: 2.55
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.9

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Kitten of Devon Rex by Tatters u00c3u00a2u00c2u009cu00c2u00be

Kitten of Devon Rex (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Tatters u00c3u00a2u00c2u009cu00c2u00be

39. Devon Rex
> Ratio: 2.25
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.6

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39. Savannah
> Ratio: 2.25
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.6

Wary (CC BY 2.0) by Lil Shepherd

38. Oriental
> Ratio: 2.21
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.6

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Abyssinian Cat (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Shou-Hui Wang

37. Abyssinian
> Ratio: 2.16
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.5

Burmese Cats cuddle (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Sue Tupling

35. Burmese
> Ratio: 2.11
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.5

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35. Cornish Rex
> Ratio: 2.11
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.5

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34. Sphynx
> Ratio: 2.07
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.5

British shorthair cat (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Iouri Goussev

33. British Shorthair
> Ratio: 2.06
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.4

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32. Somali
> Ratio: 2.05
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.4

Medusa (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Dumphasizer

31. Bengal
> Ratio: 2.03
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.4

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30. Turkish Van
> Ratio: 2.01
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.4

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29. Toyger
> Ratio: 1.93
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.3

28. Bombay
> Ratio: 1.92
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.3

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25. Balinese-Javanese
> Ratio: 1.88
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.3

Japanese bobtail (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Shou-Hui Wang

25. Japanese Bobtail
> Ratio: 1.88
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.3

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25. Tonkinese
> Ratio: 1.88
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.3

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24. Munchkin
> Ratio: 1.86
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.2

Geisha 755 (CC BY 2.0) by Mikael Moiner

23. European Burmese
> Ratio: 1.85
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.2

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22. LaPerm
> Ratio: 1.79
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.2

Classic Tabby Scottish Fold (CC BY 2.0) by Tom Thai

21. Scottish Fold
> Ratio: 1.78
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.2

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IMG_5711_m (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Witold Waschut

20. Chartreux
> Ratio: 1.77
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

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17. Korat
> Ratio: 1.76
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

17. Ocicat
> Ratio: 1.76
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

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17. Ragdoll
> Ratio: 1.76
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

American Shorthair by u00e7u0099u00bdu00e5u00a3u00ab u00e6u009du008e

American Shorthair (CC BY 2.0) by u00e7u0099u00bdu00e5u00a3u00ab u00e6u009du008e

16. American Shorthair
> Ratio: 1.49
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

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13. American Wirehair
> Ratio: 1.74
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

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Monty up close! (CC BY 2.0) by mr.stokey

13. Birman
> Ratio: 1.74
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

13. Pixiebob
> Ratio: 1.74
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

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12. American Bobtail
> Ratio: 1.73
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

10. Egyptian Mau
> Ratio: 1.72
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

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10. Turkish Angora
> Ratio: 1.72
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

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9. Maine Coon
> Ratio: 1.71
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

7. Selkirk Rex
> Ratio: 1.69
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

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Newton & Tequila (CC BY 2.0) by Guido T

7. Siamese
> Ratio: 1.55
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

6. American Curl
> Ratio: 1.56
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

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4. Ragamuffin
> Ratio: 1.67
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

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4. Siberian
> Ratio: 1.67
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.1

1. Norwegian Forest
> Ratio: 1.65
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.0

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1. Russian Blue
> Ratio: 1.65
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.0

1. Manx
> Ratio: 1.59
> Difference from Golden Ratio: 0.0

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.