There may be a connection between the number of broadband users finding love online and the ongoing effects of the global economic slowdown, it has been suggested.

A spokeswoman for Relate, a UK-based organisation that provides users with relationship counselling, sex therapy and other types of support, said she was unsurprised recent figures had shown a boom in the number of people turning to the web to find romance.

Christine Northam, a counsellor working for the group, explained in times of economic uncertainty, people require the kind of reassurance and confidence having a special someone around can provide.

She added more people were being made redundant and this was giving them too much free time to consider what was missing in their lives - and this was something online dating could help with.

"Very often we get reassurance when we date somebody and they fancy us," Ms Northam noted.

"From a personal morale boosting point of view you can understand why people might want to put more energy into dating than they normally would."

In addition, it was suggested that the low cost of logging on to a website and meeting people using a simple broadband connection and a computer was a better option for many than expensive pubs and clubs.

Her comments follow new research from Mintel that revealed the online dating market is now worth £80 million - a figure expected to reach around £150 million by 2014.

Categories: Broadband, Wireless Broadband

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