WOULD YOU CHOOSE FOR A lifetime partner a person who loves you but whom you love more, or a person you love but who loves you more?

For 7 out of 10 adult Filipinos (71 percent), the answer is a lifetime partner who loves them more, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

The Fourth Quarter 2009 SWS survey asked respondents, ?If you could choose only one among the following as your lifetime partner, which would you pick? The person who loves me but I love more, or the person I love but who loves me more.?

?Preference for receiving over giving love was dominant in all areas and classes,? SWS noted in its release.

Seventy-three percent of Filipinos in the Visayas, 71 percent in both Luzon outside Metro Manila and Mindanao, and 70 percent in Metro Manila prefer to be loved more than for them to love more.

Seventy-three percent in class D, 70 percent in class ABC and 67 percent in class E also prefer the same.

The sentiment is also stronger among women (77 percent) than among men (65 percent), and dominant among younger respondents: 75 percent among those aged 18 to 24 and 25 to 34, 73 percent among 45 to 54, and 72 percent among 35 to 44. Among those aged 55 and above, only 63 percent share the same feeling.

Regardless of marital status, majority prefer a partner who loves them more: 76 percent among those with a partner, 72 percent among those without spouse or partner, and 71 percent among those who are married.

The preference is also strongest among those who are separated or divorced (89 percent), followed by formerly widowed and now remarried (81 percent), those who were formerly separated or divorced and now with a live-in partner (78 percent), and those who have a live-in partner for the first time (76 percent).

Those who were formerly widowed and now with a live-in partner were divided?51 percent place more value on receiving love while 49 percent place more value on giving it.

The noncommissioned survey, conducted on Dec. 5-10, 2009, used face-to face interviews with 2,100 adults nationwide, with an error margin of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

Respondents consisted of those who are without a spouse or partner (24 percent), married (68 percent) and those with a live-in partner (8 percent).