A national survey, published here Saturday, showed about 62.4 percent of the surveyed couples said they were happy with their marriage, and "loving and respecting each other."

In more developed east China, 65.1 percent said they were in good relationship with their spouses. The ratio was 63.5 percent in central China and 57.9 percent in less developed western region.

The survey done by the All-China Women's Federation covered 9,645 couples in ten provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China from October last year to April.

Their average age stood at 41 years old and 70 percent of them were from 31 to 50.

About 64.5 percent of surveyed Chinese couples said they were "satisfied" or "very much satisfied" with their sex life.

The more the husbands and wives were educated, the happier they seemed to be with their sex life, according to the survey. Only 7.5 percent of husbands and wives, who never went to school, felt very much satisfied with their sex life. The ratio increased to 28.6 percent among those with a degree of bachelor or higher.

According to the survey, about 70.2 percent of the surveyed couples were happy and very happy in their life.

The happiness were strongly related to the couples' perception of their economic status, the survey report said.

The survey also found Chinese couples considered loyalty as the most important virtue in maintaining a good marriage.

About 69.4 percent of the surveyed couples said the least tolerable mistake was having extramarital affairs. About 67.8 percent of husbands and 70.4 percent of wives thought so, the report said.