Shanghai men are among the most generous boyfriends in China, but many would prefer their girlfriends to have bigger breasts, according to a survey by a dating website.

They spend an average of 1,766 yuan (US$284) a month, or 28 percent of their pay, on dating, the Jiayuan.com survey found. Only men in Zhejiang and Beijing spend more.

While 32 percent said they struggled to cope with the high cost of living in Shanghai, they still splashed out on shopping, travel, gifts, entertainment and eating out with their girlfriends.

One office worker, surnamed Luo, said he spent about 1,500 yuan to 2,000 yuan a month on his girlfriend, with most going on theater, cinema and dinner.

“It is expensive, but you have to pay,” he said.

Across the country, men spend an average of 1,591 yuan on dating every month, about a third of their income, with men born in the 1970s the biggest spenders.

The survey found that 46 percent of Shanghai men wished their girlfriends had breasts that would fill a C-cup, the highest percentage across the country. Another 28 percent said they would be happy if their girlfriends were a D-cup or bigger.

But 68 percent of female respondents in the city told the survey they were an A-cup or B-cup.

However, only 13 percent of men supported the idea of breast augmentation.

“Of course, I wish my girlfriend could have bigger breasts, but not artificial ones,” Luo said.

Nationwide, the percentage of men opposing breast augmentation (46 percent) was less than those opposing plastic surgery (60 percent).

The survey found that the average age of “leftover men” in Shanghai was believed by respondents to be 31.5 and 30.8 for “leftover women,” among the oldest in the country.

Shanghai’s fast pace of life, work pressure and demanding mothers-in-law, who have high income expectations of potential husbands for their daughters, forced single men to marry when they are older, said Zhang Jiarui, a consultant with the website.

Nationwide, 14 percent of single people labelled as “leftovers,” born between 1980 and 1984, said they had never dated.

People with low incomes and education were a higher percentage of those who had never dated, while the percentage was also high, at 24 percent, among people with a postgraduate degree or above, the survey said.

Having too small a social circle was the top reason listed by men as to why they had never dated, while most women who didn’t date said they hadn’t meet Mr Right yet, and didn’t want to compromise.

Some 96 percent of men in Shanghai said they wanted a child after marriage, as did 95 percent of women, while 52 percent of city respondents said they supported the new second-child policy.

Around 40 percent said they would raise their children themselves, while the rest hoped parents or ayi would help when the children were young.

Nationwide, only 2 percent of respondents said they wanted to join the “double income, no kids yet” group, a significant drop compared to the survey in 2011.

The survey polled 97,594 people across the Chinese mainland. More than 70 percent were born in the 1980s and 1990s and the majority had university degrees.

Among them, 3,425 were in Shanghai, and 56 percent of Shanghai interviewees were females. About 71 percent were born in the 1980s or 1990s.

The website estimated that the number of divorces last year would be 3.17 million, 70,000 more than in 2012, with those born in the 1980s making up the majority. It said they tended to be more self-centered and less tolerant than those born earlier.