Latin males really are libidinous, with 55pc in France admitting affairs
When even their president is caught sneaking around behind his partner's back, it's not surprising to find the French topping a poll for infidelity, alongside the equally hot-blooded Italians.
Fifty-five per cent from France and Italy admitted cheating on their partners, along with one in three women.
The poll by the French Institute of Public Opinion (Ifop) comes after President Francois Hollande was snapped leaving the home of actress Julie Gayet on a scooter. The photos led to the collapse of his relationship with long-time partner Valerie Trierweiler and a torrent of worldwide comment about Catholic France's attitudes to fidelity.
The pollsters suggested a link between bed-hopping and religion, saying there was less evidence of cheating in "majority Protestant" countries. Only 42 per cent of Britons and 46 per cent in Germany admitted to having an affair.
"After all the noise about 'L'Affaire Gayet', and all the articles in the international press about the fickle nature of the French, this seems to confirm the clichés about Latin males," Ifop director Francois Kraus said.
Hollande and Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi, convicted of paying for sex with an underage prostitute at one of his infamous "bunga bunga parties", are "ultimately quite representative of their respective nations", Kraus added.
Infidelity is most evenly distributed between the sexes in Germany, where 43 per cent of women admit to having had an affair. The figure is 34 per cent in Italy, 32 per cent in France and 29 per cent in Britain.
The French also remain the most casual about flings, with 35 per cent saying they may cheat again, against 31 per cent of Germans and Spaniards, 28 per cent of Italians, and a quarter of Brits.
