[This message has been edited by Ray]
We have had previous discussions on how we met our foreign loved ones and I think it was Jeff S that took a survey a while back. If I remember correctly, I think his results showed that over half met through personal introductions of one sort or another and about 1/4 met through pen-pal clubs (or services selling addresses).
I found a recent CFO (Commission on Filipinos Overseas) report that showed some interesting statistics on how Filipino fiancées/spouses met their foreign partners. The report covers the period 1989-2001, so the Internet method of introduction is only a recent but growing phenomenon.
Essentially, the report shows that almost 2/3 (66%) met through either personal introductions or pen pal referrals by relatives. Surprisingly, only about 5.7% met as pen pals through ads/columns/pen pal clubs. Even in the most recent year of the survey, 2001, only 5.5% met through the Internet but I would expect that to increase significantly in coming years.
By far the most surprising part of the report to me was that 27.5% met at their place of work. Place of work? I am guessing that most of those met in a bar or nightclub where she was working as a GRO/hostess, although we have had several members who met her while she was working in a restaurant or department store.
Also, the number who just bumped into each other or met by chance wasn’t even a reporting category and the “through other entities” category was barely over 1%.
There are some other interesting categories of the report that cover Filipino-foreign match-ups, including age, major occupation, level of education, civil status, etc.
http://www.cfo.gov.ph/stat_bod.htm
Ray
