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How your age could affect your relationship's chances

Picture: Getty
Picture: Getty

It turns out the age gap between you and your partner is linked to how long you’ll be together.

A study of 3,000 people, by Andrew Frances and Hugo Mialon from Emory University in Atlanta, found that there is a correlation - the larger the age gap, the more likely it is that you will split up.

A five year age gap makes you 18 per cent more likely to split than age equals, while a 10 year gap increases this to 39 per cent.

A 20 year gap will make you 95 per cent more likely to break up – you get the trend.

It’s therefore unsurprising that the most successful age gap is one year. The study found that couples with a gap of only one year faced a three per cent chance of divorce.

There were also other statistical factors - having a child prior to walking down the aisle meant you were 59 per cent less likely to have a divorce, while having a child during marriage made you 76 per cent less likely to split.

If you have different levels of education it was found you were 43 per cent more likely to divorce, but if you make it to a two year anniversary you were 43 per cent less likely to.

Reach ten years, and you're 94 per cent less likely to divorce.

Mialon said of the statistics:

It could just be that the types of couples with those characteristics are the types of couples who are, on average, more likely to divorce for other reasons.

HT Her.ie

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