COPENHAGEN (AFP) - A dating site targeting singles looking for a partner to have children with launched this week in Denmark, attracting slightly more men than women, its founder said on Tuesday.

"Babyklar.nu" (baby-ready dot now) was the brain child of Emmanuel Limal, a French actor, playwright and engineer who came up with the idea after seeing a woman on another dating site apologise for stating in her profile that she wanted to have a baby.

"I think much of it is due to the fact that we're always having to 'sell' ourselves," Mr Limal said, referring to many people's reluctance to broach the subject of procreation in online forums.

"Most people just want to talk about the exciting things and they'd rather not mention that they lack something as big as family and children."

There was also a misguided belief among many that they would limit their options if they brought up the topic.

"They think: 'If I don't mention that I want children, I'll attract more people.' But the truth is you attract the wrong types," he said.

Mr Limal first thought of the new website in November, and programming began on Valentine's Day, Feb 14.

Since launching on Monday, "Baby-ready" has received around 50 new members per hour, just over half of whom are men.

"One man wrote to me saying he thought it was fantastic that I'd had this idea. He said it was such a relief to be able to see who wants to have children," said Mr Limal, who has already bought domain names in other countries for a future expansion of the brand.

Denmark's birth rate fell to its lowest in more than two decades last year, at around 1.7 children per woman, prompting some daycare centres to offer free child care for one evening so that parents could go home and make more babies.