Life Expectancy of Couples Revealed: Few Surpass the Average!

They fall in love, live together, share daily life… and then they part ways. In recent years, romantic relationships have undergone a transformation. They’re shorter, less settled, and freer. The traditional concept of a couple, as it was long understood, seems to be from a bygone era—one of our parents or grandparents, of marriages that lasted fifty years, for better or for worse. Today, love stories are often written in short chapters, interspersed with new encounters, career changes, and relocations. But how long does a relationship last nowadays? And why is this duration decreasing so significantly?

In his latest book, When We Fall in Love, We Rise Attached (Ed. Odile Jacob), neuropsychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik addresses a delicate issue: the nature of romantic bonds in new generations. The finding is clear. It’s not that people no longer fall in love; it’s that they no longer attach in the same way. “We like each other well and we know it won’t last long,” he explains in an interview with Le Figaro. In other words, young people no longer believe as much in “forever.” And they’re not alone: the idea of a unique, inseparable love has gradually given way to more fluid, fragmented journeys.

Boris Cyrulnik describes this as a “social adventure.” Today, a young adult might experience 4 or 5 significant relationships in their lifetime, have about ten sexual partners, and switch between several careers. And this has become the norm. Stability is no longer a central value. What matters most is personal development. The freedom to choose. The desire not to be confined. “These are not at all the same conditions of existence your parents experienced, but people develop better,” he asserts. Thus, it’s not divorce rates that have skyrocketed, but the overall instability of relationships. These days, they last only about 6 years on average, according to the expert, and 60% of young couples eventually break up.

Nevertheless, a study conducted in Mons, Belgium, reveals that 39% of teenagers suffer from a high level of anxiety. This percentage is explained by this emotional void, this relational ambiguity, this lack of lasting attachment. Indeed, this “repeated fracture,” as Boris Cyrulnik puts it, is primarily absorbed by the young today. “Children today, who have never been so respected, who have never had such good physical development conditions, have never been so anxious,” the neuropsychiatrist states.