One in two singles prefer their dating partners to have prior sexual experience and are in favour of living together before getting married.

These were some of the findings of an online survey involving 572 singles conducted by eSynchrony, an online matching service under the LunchActually group, one of the leading dating agencies here.

"These findings show that as much as our society is generally conservative, we are seeing a gradual shift in openness towards sex and marriage," said Ms Violet Lim, chief executive of Lunch Actually and eSynchrony.

The survey, which was conducted last month, posed questions to the singles to find out about their sexual attitudes, and views on family and children.

"We were seeing seemingly compatible couples eventually splitting and realised that couples are more likely to stay together if they agree on more intimate and longer-term concerns," said Ms Lim.

The problem was, she added, that singles were too shy to delve into these private and sensitive issues during the early stages of dating.

Almost all of the 572 singles surveyed said they wanted to know about their potential partners' views on sex, family and marriage. Thus, on the back of this survey, the dating agency intends to roll out a new matching system that aims to better match singles who have similar views and attitudes on sex, marriage and families.

"It pairs individuals who may not seem compatible by conventional rules, but are ideal for each other based on important issues concerning sex and marriage," said Ms Lim.

"This saves a great deal of time and heartache and minimises the chances of couples going separate ways," she added.

Ms Jamie Nan, 33, a business development executive who is currently single, said: "It is good to have a service which doesn't just match you superficially with someone who looks good, but (who) shares similar values on sex and marriage."

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