Doesn't it seem like everyone you know has been in an LDR—or knows someone who's in one? The number of LDRs will continue to spike as long as we continue to make the acquaintance of a wider circle of potential partners. The world is shrinking—people are traveling for business and pleasure more than they did twenty
years ago. Online, singles are flirting cross-country and even across continents.
The rate of growth among unmarried LDPs has gone mostly unmeasured, but we do know that the number of long-distance marriages in the U.S. increased by 385,000 between 1999 and 2002. The 2000 Census measured more than 4.1 million people living apart from their spouses for reasons other than separation.
Here are some more stats about LDRs in the U.S.:
| Total number of people in long-distance relationships |
7 million couples |
| # of long-distance marriages |
2.5 – 3 million couples |
| # of long-distance couples |
3 – 4.5 million couples |
| % of college students in an LDR at any given time |
25% |
| % of college students who’ve had an LDR at some point
during their time in college |
78% |
| % military marriages that’re currently long distance
|
27 – 63% |
[Chart source: The Center for the Study of Long-Distance Relationships]
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