Recent studies reveal that 45-55% of married women and 50-60% of married men engage in extramarital sex at some time or another during their relationship. Do these infidelity statistics seem a bit startling? What these findings suggest is that approximately one half of all married men and women do seek intimacy outside of their committed relationships. But what does this really mean and why are the number of men and women having extramarital affairs so high?

This may come as a complete surprise, but most extramarital affairs are not about sex. What then, is the main factor that causes infidelity? One should pay attention to the reason most people find intimacy with someone outside of their marriage is because their emotional needs are not being met. Yes, it is true in most cases of infidelity about wanting to feel emotionally connected to someone.

One should realize that suggestions might not be particularly popular, especially among men and women who are on the receiving end of the infidelity. Obviously, finding out that your spouse or partner has cheated on you is shocking and painful. Realizing that you are just another number that adds to the infidelity statistic is not something you would like to flaunt.

According to a poll over over 1,100 women conducted by , over 62% of women thought that men cheat more than women. However, in a similar WomanSaver’s poll of over 850 women, only 67% said they would never cheat on their partner. According to the current infidelity statistics 60% of men and 40% of women are involved in extramarital affairs. These figures are even more drastic when the total numbers of marriages are considered. Because it is less likely that all the men and women having extramarital affairs do happen to be married to each other. At least half of the women having affairs are married to men are not included in the 60% of men having affairs, then at least one partner will have an affair in about 80% of all marriages.

With this study you can see that many marriages are getting affected and it is unreasonable to think affairs are due to the failures and shortcomings of individual husbands or wives. Leave alone the entire world, only in U S, 17% of divorces are caused by unknown misconceptions such as infidelity. There exists even stronger evidence, which proves that there is a high correlation between on-line infidelity and subsequent real-time sexual affairs.

The reality is that there are a lot of unsatisfying and empty relationships out there, but however, the reason why infidelity statistics are as high as they are is because people place a higher value on their careers, children, friends or hobbies and not on their relationships with their partners. Think about it, when you neglect any of these areas, it is just a matter of time before they deteriorate and ultimately lead to its untimely death. The failure in the relationship becomes imminent. The bottom line is that if you want to avoid becoming yet another case that adds to the infidelity statistic, then you must nurture and prioritize your relationship with your spouse or partner. As you may have already figured out, unlike planes, relationships cannot be maintained on "auto-pilot".