Huh? This is the average 'acceptable' amount of sexual partners

We all dread the awkward point of a blossoming relationship, where one person asks "so how many people have you slept with?"

The number of sexual partners each of us has can be a sensitive subject for some people.

Whether you've had over a hundred or have yet to have one, there will always be someone who thinks you have had too many or too few.

So how many people would you want your partner to have previously slept with?

Research by Nottingham, Bristol and Swansea universities, and published in the Journal of Sex Research, showed that the ideal number is three.

Any higher than that, and their interest in pursuing a relationship with that person begins to fall.

This number is the same for both men and women, who feel that three is the magic number when it comes to their lovers past encounters. 

However, those participating in the survey don't live up to their own expectations, with the average woman having 5.81 and the average man having 8.4.

Men surveyed also said that the cut off point of past lovers for their prospective partners was 11.