Marriage is no longer as important a factor as it used to be, according to members of Firstdate.com

More than 5,000 singles participated in the Firstdate survey on marriage and a full 54.8 % were of the opinion that they would cope without getting married. Rather more men (57.1%) were disinclined to marry than women, of whom 45.1 % would say no to marriage.

The survey also showed that among singles who had been married previously, only 8 % of the men and 10 % of the women could imagine going through another wedding. On the other hand, 5 % of the men and 4.6 % of the women could not imagine standing in front of the altar again.

Marriage is of rather higher importance to women, of whom 39.9 % regarded marriage as being an important part of life. Among men, 30.3 % wanted to update their civil status to 'married'.