Economist Charts: Global Infidelity

Economist Charts: Global Infidelity

Well, not really, but they did design this nifty graph. The results are also interesting, if not surprising, but as the article suggests, it might just be a measurement of varying levels of cultural honesty as opposed to purely reliable statistics on adultery. The Economist also posted another article on marriage today—divorce demographics in the U.S—and how there is “a widening gulf between how the best- and least-educated Americans approach marriage and child-rearing.”

If you’re lazy and don’t want to read it, here are the stats. For the best-educated:

The divorce rate among college-educated women has plummeted. Of those who first tied the knot between 1975 and 1979, 29% were divorced within ten years. Among those who first married between 1990 and 1994, only 16.5% were.

…And the least-educated:

At the bottom of the education scale, the picture is reversed. Among high-school dropouts, the divorce rate rose from 38% for those who first married in 1975-79 to 46% for those who first married in 1990-94…The out-of-wedlock birth rate among women who drop out of high school is 15%. Among African-Americans, it is a staggering 67%.