A recent survey in Italy has revealed that only 29% favour allowing same-sex couples to have children.

The survey, released on Wednesday by the socio-economic research company Censis and the Ibse foundation, also found that there was little overt influence of religion in the findings.

Ansa reports that of practising Catholics, 23% agreed that gay couples should be allowed to become parents.

Additionally, 46% in total believed it was acceptable for single adults to have children. Again, in only slight contrast, the figure for Catholics was at 43%.

In August, a lesbian couple were the first in Italy to be allowed to adopt a child by a court.

Last month, an Italian photographer criticised a far-right group for using one of his photographs for “no to gay adoption” campaign.

Italy is home to a large Catholic population, and lags behind other European countries on LGBT rights, with gay couples having no legal recognition, rights to adopt, and limited protection from discrimination.