British adults tell on average three lies a day

LONDON - An adult in Britain tells on an average three lies a day, including lying about how many people they have had sex with, a survey has found.

The study of 3,000 adults by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has revealed that more than a third lie regularly about their workload.

More than one quarter have not been completely honest to their partners and do not tell them about how many people they have had sex with, the Daily Express reported.

Nearly all men said they exaggerated about the number of women they had slept with, while the majority of women confessed to have decreased the actual number.

The study was carried out to mark the DVD release of season two of the drama series “Lie To Me”.

“It’s quite surprising how many people purposely lie. Most of the time it appears they do so to make their lives easier - but getting caught can never be a good experience,” a spokesperson said.

While 20 percent Britons do not tell the truth about salaries, four out of 10 people regularly claim falsely to being sick in order to get a day off work.

One in 10 even confessed to having lied about a relative dying to get time off.

In job applications, a quarter admitted not being entirely accurate about previous experience and many exaggerated qualifications.

A fifth also confessed to making things up on their status updates on social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Some people also revealed they had broken something and then returned it to a shop claiming it was faulty.

A high percentage of Britons also seem to struggle to be completely truthful about their age and weight.

“It is staggering to realise that we tell more lies to our loved ones than anyone else. It is scary to think that what we take as the truth could be a complete lie,” the spokesman said.