Marriage has been a time honored tradition in society throughout human history, but it's also a time honoered tradition that spouses will cheat on one another. How and why? Here are some statistics: 

1. The percentage of affairs that begin at work: 60%.

2. Up to 60% of all spouses will take part in some form of infidelity at least once during their marriage.

3. 56% of men who have affairs claim to be happy in their marriages.

4. Women and men cheat at the same rate within a marriage, although the reasons why women cheat are very different from the reasons that men cheat.

5. The most common reason why a woman cheats on her spouse: emotional satisfaction.

6. Research consistently shows that 2 to 3% of all children are the product of infidelity.

7. Infidelity is becoming more common among people under 30.

8. In many cases, infidelity never gets discovered.

9. Most people are surprised by their own behavior at the start of an affair.

10. Almost everyone admits to having fantasies that involve someone other than a spouse.

11. 34% of women who had affairs claimed to be happy or very happy in their marriages.

12. Cheating is not the leading cause of divorce in the world today. Incompatibility is the #1 document reason, making communication the leading cause.

13. Some studies put the percentage of husbands who will eventually cheat at close to 50%.

14. High school dropouts and couples in which one partner is largely dependent on the other’s income are more apt to become cheating spouses.

15. Although the cheating laws are rarely enforced, adultery is considered to be a crime in Michigan, Minnesota, and South Carolina.

16. The percentage of marriages where one or both spouses admit to infidelity, either physical or emotional: 41%.

17. 22% of men admit to straying at least once while being married.

18. The average length of an extra-marital affair: 2 years.

19. 31%. That’s the percentage of marriages that stay together after a cheating spouse has been discovered or the affair is admitted.

20. Men [74%] are more likely than women [68%] to say that they would have an affair if they knew that they wouldn’t be caught.

21. 17% of cheating spouses have an affair with one of their in-laws.

22. The percentage of cheating spouses who have a fling while on a business trip: 35%.

23. Only 3 to 4% of spouses have cheated on their significant other in any given year.

24. 99% of Americans state that they expect their spouse to stay faithful to them.

25. More Americans today [80%] say that infidelity is wrong than they did in 1970 [70%].

26. The overall chances that a marriage will have one spouse cheat over the life of the marriage: 1 in 4.