The UK's Largest Survey Into Infidelity

Together with IllicitEncounters.com and Onepoll, I authored the UK's largest survey into infidelity.

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Illicit Encounters, with over 635,000 members (that’s 3% of the British public’s married population), has released the results from the biggest ever survey on infidelity, commissioned by the dating site and conducted by One Poll.  I authored the poll itself, in order to garner some hard facts about cheating in the UK.

Findings include:

25.4% of married men and 18.3% of married women and have cheated on their current partners at least once

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Most affairs start in the work-place – 38.8% of women have an affair with a work colleague in comparison to 30.7% of men

Women are 2/3rds more likely to cheat on a former flame than men

19% of British women and 30% of British men would cheat if they wouldn't get caught out.

A third of the married population would consider cheating in revenge, if they discovered a partner’s infidelity.

12% of both sexes feel that you shouldn’t feel guilty for infidelity if you were really drunk when it happened.

Men are more likely to forgive and forget than women: over 1/4 of men but only 1/5 of women.

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The statistics revealed that 18.3% of women and 25.4% of men have cheated on their current partner at least once. Shockingly more men have cheated ‘a few times’ than they have ‘only once’ whereas women are much likely to be a one-time offender. Also, more men have considered cheating in the first place.

38.8% of unfaithul women and 30.7% of unfaithful men met their lovers at work. The number of men meeting an mistress at a nightclub is almost tripple the number of women who meet their lover while on a night out. Interestingly, women are two thirds more likely to cheat with an ex than men. It is this ‘sense of familiarity’ which makes it more likely that women will also cheat with a friend - 18.03% do, compared with 16.34% of men.

These statistics reveal the difference between both genders when it comes to cheating. Men are more comfortable seeking what they want in nightclubs and bars because, first and foremost, they're looking for sex, rather than emotional connection. Women are more often than not looking for more comfort, more support and more emotional connection, which is why they're more likely to seek out those they've already got a history with.

If you'd like more stats, info or to speak to some relevant case studies on this  fascinating topic, please get in touch.

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