Affairs have been around for as long as monogamy has – it is certainly not a new concept. However, it is only in the last few decades that experts have been taking a closer looking at cheating and gathering up statistics. Then, what are the numbers showing?
Well, it appears that many people continue to cheat, both in long-term relationships as well as marriages. If you are curious about the exact number and the statistics involved, take a look:
How Common is Cheating?
It is estimated that cheating occurs in between 15 and 20 percent of marriages. Interestingly enough, not enough a pandemic was enough to get people to stop straying. Around 9 percent of people started or continued affairs even they were meant to be in lockdown.
In fact, an increasing number of people are actively seeking affairs, rather than just waiting for them to happen. And, thanks to affair dating websites, this is now easier than ever before. Those interested in the idea simply have to sign up like any other dating site and set up profiles. Then, it is just a matter of finding and matching up with people that they find attractive.
What Kind of Affairs Take Place?
As you may be aware, there are two main kinds of affairs – physical and emotional. In this case, what is the most common type of affair? Well, it appears that around 21 percent of the affairs were physical and about 23 percent were emotional.
However, the most common type of affair involved both physical and emotional elements. Up to 55 percent of the affairs were emotional as well as physical. In essence, they were secondary relationships.
Emotional affairs are increasing at a rapid rate, though. This is because it is easier to commit them than ever before. This is all thanks to the internet. People can now communicate with each through numerous online ways. And, this is possible regardless of the distance between two people.
Adding to this is that a lot of people are getting pretty savvy at covering their online tracks. This means that affairs can go on for lot longer without the other party ever finding out.
Do Men or Women Cheat More?
It has been a long held belief that men cheat more. Recent research, though, may prove that the gap isn’t as large as what it once was. It is estimated that around 20 percent of men cheat, compared to 13 percent of women.
Of this number, over 60 percent of men cheat more than once, while this number drops to over 53 percent for women. Of course, it is important to remember that many of these statistics are self-reported. Due to this, there is a good chance that the actual numbers are far higher than anyone is admitting.
Why Do People Have Affairs?
Of course, one of the top things to consider is why people have affairs. Most of the partners who stepped out reported a lack of satisfaction in their sex lives. Either their partner didn’t indulge them as often as they liked or they were just incompatible with them.
A surprising number of people thought that having an affair would help to spice things up and make it easier to stay in their main relationship.
Naturally, though, there are other reasons as well. Many women reported a lack of emotional connection with their partner. This could be because they stopped communicating with one another or because there was another kind of emotional distance there.
A lot of women also had affairs as a transitional course. They were certain that their current relationship was over and were looking for a way out. Having an affair helped them do that. Cheating is also more common with partners who are just not that committed to one another. If they don’t really feel the need to be loyal to their partner, they are more likely to stray.
What is quite interesting is that people are more likely to cheat the older that they get or the longer that they have been together. Now, this could be because the passion from the relationship is fading.
However, it also has to do with the fact that people begin to feel a lot more self-conscious about getting older and looking older. Thus, they engage in affairs to help them feel better about themselves and convince themselves that they are still attractive.
There you have it – the numbers on how common affairs are these days. Do these statistics surprise you or are they just as you suspected?
