The average woman will kiss 15 men, enjoy two long-term relationships and have her heartbroken twice before she meets 'The One', a study has revealed.
Researchers found she will also suffer four disaster dates and be stood up once before she finds one she's happy to stick with.
But she will also have been in love twice, lived with one ex-partner and had four one night stands.
In comparison, men face being stood up twice and having six one night stands before they meet their ideal partner.
The stats emerged in a study commissioned to mark the paperback release of
The Rosie Project - a tale of one man's quest to find his perfect wife.
Author Graeme Simsion, said:"It's a reminder that the path to finding a life partner can be a long and rocky one - and indeed is for most of us.
''All of the disaster dates, mismatched relationships and awkward one night stands can leave many feeling like they are never going to meet their soul mate.
"But there's an annoying yet wonderful randomness about it.
"All those calamities, false starts and heartbreaks never knowing when or if or how "The One" is going to appear in your life. Once we've found someone to settle down with perhaps we're inclined to look only at the negative aspects of the dating journey.''
The study of 2,000 adults who say they have already met 'The One', found that women will also go on seven dates - as well as a further two blind dates and two dates with someone they met over the internet.
But men will enjoy eight dates, three blind dates and meet three people online.
The biggest difference between men and women lies in the number of sexual partners - with men having ten in their lifetime, compared to an average of seven for women.
The study also revealed that men will have six relationships - two of which will last more than a year, while women will have five.
Men and women both face get cheated on once in their quest to find 'The One' - but the average adult will also be the cheater on at least one occasion in their dating lifetime.
Most will also go through one long distance relationship before finally settling down.
Researchers also found that while 94% of women believe in true love, just 88% of men feel the same way.
Pathway to meeting 'The One'
| Women | Men |
| Number of relationships | 7 | 8 |
| Disaster dates | 4 | 4 |
| Blind dates | 2 | 3 |
| Stood up on a date | 1 | 2 |
| Online dates | 2 | 3 |
| Number of kisses | 15 | 16 |
| Sexual partner | 7 | 10 |
| One night stands | 4 | 6 |
| Relationships (year or less) | 3 | 4 |
| Relationships (year or more) | 2 | 2 |
| Partners lived with | 1 | 1 |
| Falling in love | 2 | 2 |
| Heart break | 2 | 2 |
| Times cheated on | 1 | 1 |
| Times cheater | 1 | 1 |
| Long distance relationships | 1 | 1 |
