Infidelity is the act of cheating on a spouse or a committed relationship partner. There are various reasons for this, ranging from a lack of satisfaction in the existing relationship to the presence of opportunity. The statistics are ever rising and there seems to be no lowering of these values. This basically means as the opportunity increases, with more and more equal opportunity employers, the rate of infidelity goes up. Further, it is not in the nature of humans to mate for life. There is an inherent opposition to monogamy in human nature.

Men have been known from time immemorial to have this strange need to “sow their wild oats”. Men apparently cheat for the sake of spreading their progeny, a subconscious impulse. The more obvious one is the reason staring everyone right in the face. Men like to have sex, all the time, and with whoever is available. Now women on the other hand don’t rate the importance of sex as 20 on a scale of 1 to 10, as men do. They however have this constant need to have an emotional connection with another person of the opposite sex and if they are partner ignores them or is too busy for them, then they tend to stray.

Surveys show that 22% of married men have committed an adulterous act at least once in their life, while for married women it is 14%. However, in the younger generation these values are considerably higher and the numbers of both sexes are closer together. 30% of the married women knew of their spouse’s infidelity, while for married men the number is 46%. While 90% of America believe it is morally wrong to commit an adulterous act only 61% would like to see it punished as any other crime. In the United States, 17% of all the divorces that occur are due to adultery on the part of either or both the candidates. While a large number of divorces are caused by extramarital affairs most of them do not end in remarriage between the parties involved in the affair.

Studies, undertaken by Atwood and Scwartz in 2002, showed that 55% of married women and 60% of married men engage in extramarital affairs at some point in time or the other. According to Monogamy Myth, however, the numbers are 60% of the men and 40% of the women are sure to have extramarital affairs. Nearly 2 to 3% of all the children born are products of infidelity, most of them being raised by fathers who do not have any idea that they are not the child’s biological father. 36% of the people admit to having an affair with a co-worker, with whom the usually spend more time than their spouses. 36 is also the percentage of people admitting to having had an affair on a business trip.

To see how low people can sink, check out this statistic. 17% of the people admit to infidelity with their sister or brother –in-laws. Also the average length of most affairs is 2 years. 31% of the people admit to having online conversations that have led to real-time sex with complete strangers.

Numbers from the Playboy Magazine indicate that every 2 out of 3 women and 3 out of 4 men have sexual fantasies about their co-workers while 3 out of every 4 men and 3 out of every 5 women admit to having had sex with a co-worker.

How does someone know that a partner is cheating on him or her? There is no sure sign of cheating. Most of the time it is usually the gut instinct of the person. Statistics say that nearly 85% of the women are right when they think their partner is cheating on them while for men it is around 50%.

What these Infidelity Statistics state is that nearly one half of all married men and women are involved in extramarital affairs. This suggests that there is something missing from their relationships, which cause these people to look elsewhere for what they want. If you want to save yourself from becoming yet another statistic then make sure you work on your relationship constantly and don’t take anything for granted.