Single baby boomers want sex not marriage

PASSION BEGINS AT 40: According to the survey, about 30 per cent of boomers are single.

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Toronto: Single baby boomers are enjoying better sex, are open to threesomes and are not looking to get married, according to a new poll.

Forty-six per cent of the 1,000 adults born between 1946 and 1964 who were questioned in the survey said they enjoyed sex more now than they did during their 20s and 30s.

"I think we're looking at a generation that really sees this time as a great period in life," said Marina Glogovac, of the online dating site Lavalife which conducted the poll.

"Most of these people are looking to enhance their lives, so they're not really sitting there and saying I'm desperate, I need to live with someone. Their attitude is, we want to meet interesting people." There are an estimated 85 million baby boomers in North America, according to the American Association of Retired People (AARP), comprising nearly 28 per cent of the adult population.

About 30 per cent of boomers are single. The poll showed that 34 per cent would have sex on a first date compared with 17 per cent of singles in "generation X", or people born between 1965 and 1982. Twenty-five per cent of sexually active boomers were open to participating in a threesome.

"This is the generation that has grown up with feminism, swingers, and this whole liberation that came out of the 60s. This is when most of the people came of age," said Glogovac.

The survey of people in the United States and Canada by the company's site for older adults, prime.lavalife.com, also found that 47 per cent of single boomers were primarily looking for friendship, while 19 per cent were seeking a sexual companion.

The per centage of people wanting a serious relationship and those looking to casually date were about the same at 33 and 30 per cent respectively.

A mere 10 per cent hoped to get married, compared with 60 per cent of those aged 30 to 39, Lavalife said. "This is the group of people that has been around, that has lived," said Glogovac.

"They usually have a broad range of experiences and relationships. It's a group that wants to share who they are, and where they've been, and what insight they've picked up along the way."