The Perfect Age-Gap in Relationships

Experts have revealed the ‘ideal age gap’ for people who want their relationships to last – and it’s bad news for couples born five years apart.

A resurfaced study by Emory University in Atlanta found that couples with a five-year age gap are 18 per cent more likely to separate than partners who are closer in age.

In 2014, researchers at the institution analysed 3,000 people as part of their study.

The experts concluded that the bigger the age gap between couples, the more likely they were to split.

For instance, partners were 39 per cent more likely to separate if they were born 10 years apart.

The chances of a split then shot up to 95 per cent or couples with a 20-year age gap. 

As such, researchers found that the ‘ideal’ age gap between couples was one year or less.

The study concluded that the chances of divorce dropped to just three per cent for couples who were born within 12 months or less of one another.

One of the researcher’s Hugo Mialon commented: ‘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.’