9/29/2007

Commuter marriages increases in US

According to a report from TIME, the Commuter Marriages, in which couples live apart (dual-address) for long stretches, are increasing. From 2000 to 2005, their number jumped 30%, to 3.6 million. That is 2.9% of all marriages. About 50% of those couples are at least 100 miles away from each other, and 50% are separated for more than 9 months.
In US today, it is more often the women's career that drives the separation. I think I can live a separated life for 6 months. We can kiss each other through the webcam, pillow talk through IM, no big deal. But with 2 young childrens, 6 months is probably is the limit.

2 comments:

Amanda said...

My parents have been doing this for 20 years. Somehow they have made it work but I wouldn't want to be separated from my husband. Especially with our 14 month old boy!

Anonymous said...

I would have to guess that a part of that has to do with military spouses in war zones since 2001 (Afghanistan) and 2003 (Iraq). A typical deployment lasts for 7-18 months and is definitely more than 100 miles away...

Just a thought.