Bangkok Post Sex Survey. Married couples

"Singapore - Southeast Asian couples make love less frequently and are less satisfied with their sex lives than people in other parts of the world, a global survey showed on Tuesday. French people have sex most frequently while Mexicans are the happiest couples at bed, according to the survey commissioned by drug giant Pfizer, maker of the anti-impotence drug Viagra.

The survey of almost 13 000 people across 27 countries revealed the global sex frequency average to be 6.5 times a month, with 50% of those surveyed saying they were very satisfied with their sex lives.

Southeast Asian couples fell below the benchmark levels, with Indonesia coming closest to the global sex frequency average at 5.75 times per month. Singapore was at 4.55 times per month, Thailand at 4.30 and Hong Kong at 3.55. Thailand was also below the global satisfaction average at 32%.

There was no direct connection between frequency of sex and satisfaction.

Malaysians, who scored a low frequency average of 3.50 times per month, came out the happiest among the Southeast Asian countries surveyed with 42 percent saying they were very satisfied with their sex lives. Indonesia tied with Hong Kong on the unhappiness front, with only 27% surveyed saying they were very satisfied. South Korea fared much worst, with only eight percent saying they were very satisfied with their sex lives.

Increased stress levels caused by economic prosperity and modern Asian lifestyles, including unhealthy eating and drinking habits, contributed to poorer sex performance, said Peter Lim, a senior urologist.

"They (executives) are all stressed out and that contributes a lot to a poorer performance in the bedroom," said Lim, an erectile dysfunction expert with a local hospital who was invited by Pfizer to comment on the survey results. "The second reason is the pace of life, the drinking, eating, smoking has caught on," Lim said. Urbanized Hong Kong was similar to Singapore in terms of stress affecting bedroom performance, he said.

However, in developing nations like Thailand and more relaxed areas of Asia like Penang and Malacca, men's failure to have an erection was the main reason for poorer sex performance.

Globally, the French had the most sex at 7.7 times a month, followed by Germany at 6.45 and the United Kingdom at 6.40. Mexicans scored the highest sex satisfaction levels with 74.5% declaring they were very satisfied, followed by Brazil at 64.5% and Spain at 56.6%."

It would be interesting to know how many guys go outside the marital bed for satisfaction.

Quote |