Welcome to the third part in our Geeky Guide to LDRs series. If you missed our first two parts on what attracts us to others, and how attraction develops into love you can read part one here and part 2 here.
In this part we are going to explain why long distance relationships can work, but not with our experiences and thoughts. Just like with the rest of this guide we will be using hard facts to back up everything we say. And the results may surprise you; long distance relationships have some pretty awesome statistics behind them!
For example, did you know that a whole three out of five long distance relationships actually succeed and eventually lead to marriage? That’s a whopping 60%! That means that out of all 14 million couples currently in long distance relationships, 8.4 million will go on to have a happy and successful marriage. And, out of all 14 million of those, 4.55 million of those couples are in college and 3.75 million are already married.
College is the most likely time to enter or maintain a long distance relationship, with nearly 1/3 of all long distance relationships occurring during this period. This also secures the 18-24 age bracket as the top segment for LDRs, but what about your chances of success? Well, success in a long distance relationship is generally defined by two criteria. These are: marriage and/or closing the distance permanently. The two criteria are required as some long distance couples are married but have not been able to close the distance, while others have closed the distance but are not married.
The generally accepted rule is that from 6 months onwards, long distance relationships have a higher chance of success than close proximity relationships. But, if we dig a little further into the numbers we discover that the success rate for a Close Proximity Relationship (CPR) is 79% and 63% for LDRs.
At the 6 month mark, the success rate for a CPR is 71% and 73% for LDRs. By one year, the success rate for a CPR is 75% and 92% for LDRS. So not only does the chance of success increase with time, but by about 10% every 3 months! These are hugely encouraging statistics, particularly for long distance couples that have been dating for over a year.
One of the most difficult parts of a long distance relationship, even with these comforting statistics is the lack of information. Often we compare ourselves to other long distance couples, wondering what the distance between them is, or how often they talk. We often wonder, are we average? Fortunately, we have found out!
LDR couples write to each other an average of 3 times per month
The average distance between couples that consider themselves long distance is 125 miles. Long distance couples send an average of 3 emails per month and go 2.7 days between phone calls. The average length of a phone call between long distance lovers is 30 minutes. And finally, the average time apart for long distance couples is 1.5 months.
While many of us are average, there are the outliers too; those who beat the distance despite being thousands of extra miles and even more time zones apart. This is not unnatural, and there is no correlation between distance and chance of success. Whether you live 50 miles, or 5,000 miles apart… you still have every chance of closing the distance. Remember that 10% of all married couples in the USA began their relationship long distance!
10% of all married US couples began their relationship in an LDR
So, are you average? We love to hear stories from our readers; to be amazed at the unlikely odds you beat on a daily basis, stories of success and works in progress. Let us know your thoughts and long distance stories in the comments below!
February 26, 2015 at 8:12 pmits informative