Married couples who met online are happier and more likely to stay together than those who found love in more traditional ways, a study has revealed.
Based on more than 19,000 people who married between 2005 and 2012, the US study by researchers in the Proceedings of the National Acedemy of Sciences found that the percentage of couples who broke up during that time was much lower among those who began their relationships through online dating.
Close to six per cent of couples who had met online had ended their relationships, compared to 7.67 per cent of couples who met offline.
Those who were still married during the survey were asked to report their relationship satisfaction levels, and those who found love online came out on top again.
Online couples recorded an averaged satisfaction score of 5.64 out of ten, while the others were slightly less satisfied averaging 5.48.
The study took place over a period in which online dating ballooned into a billion dollar industry, and the study claims the internet “may be altering the dynamics and outcome of marriage itself”.
One third of US marriages begin with online dating, the study found, while online dating takes credit for one in ten Australian marriages according to the latest data from leading dating website RSVP.
“We found evidence for a dramatic shift since the advent of the Internet in how people are meeting their spouse,” the study said.
Of those surveyed, people who reported meeting online were mostly aged 30-49 and in higher income brackets to those who had met offline.
Among those who met offline the most popular place to meet was through work, accounting for 22 per cent of relationships, while 19 per cent met through friends, 11 per cent met at school and nine per cent at a bar or club.
