74.2% of sexless marriages end in divorce.
Marriages are considered to be sexless when the couple has sex less than 10 times in a single year. But what percentage of marriages are sexless? And how common are sexless marriages?
We’ve dug deep into numbers, facts, stats and surveys to answer these questions and more.
Let’s dive straight in!
Sexless Marriage Facts
How Many Married Men Don’t Have Sex?
How Many Married Women Don’t Have Sex?
Does Age Have Anything To Do With Having A Sexless Marriage?
Does How Long You’ve Been Married Affect Having A Sexless Marriage?
What’s The Average Amount Of Sex For Married Couples?
Which Generation Has The Most Sexless Marriages?
What Are The Reasons For Sexless Marriages?
What Do Sexless Marriages Cause?
Can A Sexless Marriage Lead To Unhappiness?
How Important Is Sex In A Marriage?
How Do People Survive Sexless Marriages?
Is Cheating While In A Sexless Marriage Wrong?
Sexless Marriage Facts
- 74.2% of sexless marriages end in divorce.
- There are 20.4 million individuals that are in sexless marriages living in the US.
- 77% of people that are in sexless marriages state that they would love to have more sex.
- 15.6% of married people didn’t have sex last year.
- Sex frequency in married couples decreased by half after the first year of marriage.
- 70% of the time, women initiate divorce in sexless marriages.
- 33% of women over the age of 45 are worried about their lack of libido.
- After four years of marriage, only 48% of married women say that they want sex on a regular basis.
- Low libido was reported in 12% of midlife women.
- Low libido was reported in 7% of women over the age of 65.
- Japan has the most sexless marriages with a reported 47.2% of marriages being sexless.
- Marriages with no children are only 16% likely to have a sexless marriage, while those with at least one child were 30% more likely to.
How Many Married Men Don’t Have Sex?
While sexless marriage might seem like something couples suffer through together, the truth is that that isn’t always the case.
While adultery isn’t always the first reaction to a sexless marriage, it would explain how the amount of married men and married women that don’t have sex are different.
- 1.7% of married men don’t have sex.
- 5.2% of married men have sex 1-2 times a year.
- 35.4% of married men have sex 1-3 times a month.
- 57.6% of married men have sex at least once a week.
How Many Married Women Don’t Have Sex?
It seems as though the numbers for women show that they end up having sex more often while still being in sexless marriages.
Considering this fact, the difference in numbers between men and women adds to the statistic of divorced couples.
- 1.3% of married women don’t have sex.
- 5.5% of married women have sex 1-2 times a year.
- 32.4% of married women have sex 1-3 times a month.
- 60.9% of married women have sex at least once a week.
Does Age Have Anything To Do With Having A Sexless Marriage?
One might assume that the number of people in sexless marriages would climb as you look at older ages, and that’s correct.
While the numbers rise with age, that also means that those numbers include older people with sexual dysfunctions and medical conditions.
- 3.5% of married 20 year olds didn’t have sex last year.
- 4.6% of married 25 year olds didn’t have sex last year.
- 6.5% of married 30 year olds didn’t have sex last year.
- 7.9% of married 35 year olds didn’t have sex last year.
- 15.6% of married 40 year olds didn’t have sex last year.
- 19.8% of married 45 year olds didn’t have sex last year.
- 23.9% of married 50 year olds didn’t have sex last year.
- 25.8% of married 55 year olds didn’t have sex last year.
- 29.1% of married 60 year olds didn’t have sex last year.
- 32% of married 65 year olds didn’t have sex last year.
- 34.1% of married 70 year olds didn’t have sex last year.
Does How Long You’ve Been Married Affect Having A Sexless Marriage?
The more time spent with the same person, the more one might become bored of bedroom antics and fun.
With more time together comes the fact that it takes more to continue having the libido one might have in the honeymoon stage of their marriage.
- Of marriages that last 0-10 years, 5.6% are sexless.
- Of marriages that last 10-20 years, 13.7% are sexless.
- Of marriages that last 20-30 years, 20.1% are sexless.
- Of marriages that last 30-40 years, 28.9% are sexless.
What’s The Average Amount Of Sex For Married Couples?
Now that numbers have been established for the amount of people not having sex, it is time to compare those numbers with the averages people are hoping to accomplish.
Not all marriages are sexless, but the older couples become, the closer they get to being on the sexless marriage list.
- People who are married for 0-10 years have sex 107 times a year on average.
- People who are married for 10-20 years have sex 69 times a year on average.
- People who are married for 20-30 years have sex 42 times a year on average.
- People who are married for 30-40 years have sex 36 times a year on average.
Which Generation Has The Most Sexless Marriages?
The gap in sexless marriages by generation can be attributed to the fact that the younger generations don’t have that much time to be married yet.
It also seems to stem from the fact that starting in the Millennial generation, people started waiting to get married longer, and they even manage to stay together longer.
- 33.1% of married Baby Boomers are in sexless marriages.
- 22.9% of married Generation X couples are in sexless marriages.
- 7.4% of married Millennial couples are in sexless marriages.
- 2.3% of married Generation Z couples are in sexless marriages.
What Are The Reasons For Sexless Marriages?
Most of the time, sexless marriages aren’t a conscious decision, and sometimes, it’s one of those things that simply happens over time.
For some people, the reasons behind sexless marriages are fixable, but sometimes, that simply isn’t the case.
- Relationship Issues
- Children
- Lack of Love
- Lacking sexdrive
- Mental health issues
- Stress at work
- Hormonal imbalance
- Trauma from past
- Sexual dysfunction
- Medical reasons
What Do Sexless Marriages Cause?
While divorce seems to be the main go to for people who are in sexless marriages, there are many other results of a sexless marriage that don’t get as much attention.
For every person that divorces out of a sexless marriage, there is another person that stays and has to deal with the consequences.
- Low Self Esteem
- Consider divorce
- Loneliness
- Resentment
- Guilt
- Unhappy
- Infidelity
- “Sexual avoidance cycle”
- Less Patience
- Inadequacy
Can A Sexless Marriage Lead To Unhappiness?
According to a survey, people who only have sex less than once a week end up being much more unhappy than those that have more. While sex isn’t the key to happiness in a long term relationship, it definitely is a key factor for most relationships.
How Important Is Sex In A Marriage?
According to a recent poll:
- 39% of people in a sexless marriage believe that intimacy isn’t important for a couple to show how happy they are with each other.
- 61% of people in a sexless marriage believe that intimacy is crucial and wish that it would change.
Whether the 39% of people have figured out a way to cope or have low to non-existent libidos could be potential reasons behind the lack of need for intimacy.
How Do People Survive Sexless Marriages?
Surviving a sexless marriage can be a daunting task, but with some understanding, it’s manageable.
While the best advice is to seek professional help from a doctor or psychiatrist, there are other options to explore if you’re so inclined to.
According to a survey, many people in a sexless marriage find that turning their relationship into an open marriage ended up being the solution for them.
An open marriage gives each partner more freedom to explore their sexual desires while removing the worry of infidelity.
Is Cheating While In A Sexless Marriage Wrong?
Infidelity is more common in sexless marriages, but that doesn’t answer the question of whether or not a partner would think it’s excusable.
According to a survey:
- 91% of Americans believe that extramarital sex is wrong no matter the reason.
This has risen over the last years
- 40 years ago only 70% of Americans thought cheating was wrong no matter the reason.
This doesn’t stop people from having extramarital relations though. According to another survey:
- 46% of married people stated that they are having affairs.
- Amazingly, 24% of marriages that had dealt with infidelity actually stayed together.
- Due to cheating spouses, 47.5% of those marriages said that they established new rules for their relationship to minimize the possibility of more affairs.
About Katherin Winnick