10 pct of Oz Internet daters meet their spouse online

SYDNEY - A survey has found that 10 percent of Australian couples who use the Internet for dating, meet their spouses online.

The survey, carried out by market research company Nielsen for the Australian online dating agency RSVP, found that one in four Australians have used online dating.

RSVP’s Date of the Nation report surveyed 7000 Australians from the general population over four months, and it found that 25 percent have used an online dating site.

More than half the people who have used a dating site (63 percent) ended up dating someone they met online, and a third of those (34 percent) had a short-term relationship, with 16 percent having a long-term one.

Nine percent ended up marrying their online match and three per cent became parents, while fifteen percent of all relationships formed last year were the result of online dating.

The survey suggests that people using online dating sites are after more than a quick hook-up, with 72 percent saying they were looking for a long-term relationship.

Lija Jarvis, a spokeswoman for RSVP, says the survey shows that Internet dating has lost its stigma and has become just another way of meeting someone.

John Aiken, a relationship expert and consultant to RSVP, also says attitudes to online dating are changing.

“People are using it now not for fun and flirty casual types of experimentation, but rather they are saying ‘I think this is a great way of finding someone special that’s going to last long term’,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted him as saying. (ANI)