Ex Back Statistics (2023): How Often Do Couples Get Back Together?

Are you wondering how often couples manage to get back together after a breakup?

Let’s face it: the decision to end a relationship is never easy. Still, after an emotionally exhausting dilemma about leaving their partners, it turns out that couples do get back together.

If you’re among those who lose hope after painful breakups, we have great news: studies conducted in the field of social psychology show that regardless of the reason for the breakup, couples still get back together.

But do they manage to maintain the relationship? Does relationship status, gender, or age matter? After what time do they get back together?

Let’s review recent statistics, polls, stories, and studies about getting your ex back. 

In the end, we’ll also take a look at research-based reasons why exes get back together and discuss examples of famous people who managed to get back together during the past year.

Key Statistics

• 44% of US adults reported having gotten back together with an ex after breaking up.
• 72% of married couples reunite and stay together for life.
• In general, women are more likely to get back with their exes successfully than men. In particular, 33.28% of females managed to get their exes back, while the same applies to 23.47% of men.
• Among different generations, Gen Xers (25%) are the most willing to get back together with their partner more than once, while most Baby Boomers (59%) are against reconciling their relationship.
• Time, distance, age, relationship status, culture, basic values, level of emotional attachment, and personality traits are factors that determine whether couples get back together.
• People between the ages of 18-24 are most likely to get back together with their partners.
• Based on personality traits, people who score highly on openness and conscientiousness are more likely to get back together with their ex. Besides, introverted people have higher chances to reconcile their relationships than extroverts. The results aren’t straightforward in the case of agreeableness and neuroticism. 
• The percentage of couples who get back together after a breakup varies from 10% to 72%.
• Only 15% of people manage to get back to their exes permanently after 9 months of breakup.

Do people often get back together with their ex?

The statistics on whether or not couples reconcile with their ex may appear perplexing.

In fact, the percentage of couples who get back together after a breakup varies from 10% to 72%. This means that either you have a massive 72% chance to reunite with your ex, or you’re almost unlikely to reconnect and stay together. 

Considering this, the statistics might not seem very promising for those who want to get back with their ex-lovers. 

Yes, you don’t have a 100% chance of reuniting with your ex and living happily ever after. But guess what?

There are numerous factors that define your success in winning your ex back. This means we have no reason to say that you won’t succeed.

The good news is that if you’ve broken up with your partner after being married for some time, you have a higher chance of reconnecting with your spouse. 

According to the recent research of Nancy Kalish, Ph.D., married couples have a 72% chance to reunite and stay together for life. There’s one thing you should know, though — among the 1,600 participants on her website who took part in the survey she conducted, only 5% of married couples managed to stay together after their reunion.

So, how many people break up again after getting back together?

Based on the 2022 survey conducted by Kevin Thompson, the founder of Ex Back Permanently, among 3,512 research participants, 15% permanently won their exes back after 9 months of breakup. Unfortunately, almost 71% of participants never reunited with their ex-partners, while 14% broke up again after getting back together. 

Still, there’s a lot more you should know regarding the ex-back statistics in 2023.

• A survey conducted at the University of Texas showed that as many as 65% of college students got together after a breakup.
• A study about on-and-off relationships published in the Journal of Adolescent Research suggests that young adults are characterized by great volatility when it comes to romantic relationships. However, 44% of people aged 17-24 reported getting back together with their ex.
• The same study proves that 57% of people who got back together tried to have sex with their ex during the reunion, while 50% were more focused on repairing the lost connection.
• Interestingly, 60% of US adults who got dumped by their partners are still eager to get back together.

Men vs Women: Who gets back with their ex more

Perhaps not surprisingly, men and women have different patterns of behavior when it comes to getting back with their exes. Their emotions, purpose, motivations, and willingness to reconcile with their former partners also vary.

Some studies have attempted to examine the differences between men and women in terms of their likelihood of reconciling with an ex. 

It turns out that there are significant differences based on gender in ex back statistics.

To put it simply, women are more successful at reconciling with their former partners than men. Specifically, 33.28% of females who took part in Kevin Thomson’s survey managed to get their exes back, while only 23.47% of men succeeded. 

Among them, more women (17.37%) stayed together with their partner after getting back together, while a great number of male participants (11.93%) who got back together with their ex broke up again.

Unfortunately, more than half of both male (76.53%) and female (66.72%) participants didn’t get back together after a breakup.

Wondering whether men and women feel happy when they’re in romantic relationships?

Well, when asked to agree or disagree with the sentence “I’m only happy when I’m in a relationship,”  only 30% of both genders agreed. According to YouGov data, men are more likely (37%) to be happy in their relationships than women (23%).

Ex back statistics among different generations

When it comes to comparing different generations, it seems like the perceptions of people born during different periods of time significantly vary. 

In order to assess the percentage of US adults who have gotten back together with an ex-partner after separating, YouGovAmerica conducted a study among 22,038 individuals of different generations.

The results show that one generation that expresses the most eagerness to get back together with their partner more than once is Gen X (25%). Surprisingly, as many as 59% of Baby Boomers reported a strict refusal to reconcile their relationship. 24-24% of both Millennials and Gen X said that they had restored a relationship only once.

Overall, it seems like the majority of all generations (Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers, Silent Generation) haven’t gotten back together with their partners after a breakup. 

7 major factors that affect getting back together with an ex

While the studies that aimed to explore whether couples get back together or not offer interesting insights, there are many factors that we need to keep in mind when talking about the data of getting back together with an ex.

So, what determines the success of restoring the relationship? Let’s take a look at 7 major factors that affect getting back together with an ex.

1) Time and distance

The amount of time that has passed since the breakup and the amount of physical distance between the two individuals can impact the likelihood of getting back together.

Generally, most participants in studies that ever managed to get back together reconciled their relationships 6 months after the breakup.

As a result, chances are that half a year is enough time to heal, reflect on your desires and emotions, and make the decision to restore the relationship. Keep in mind that this applies especially to long-term relationships.

What about distance?

Well, if you and your ex are physically far apart, it can be more challenging to maintain communication and build a strong relationship. 

For example, according to a 2020 study, being physically close to one another can lead to safe attachment and psychological intimacy between partners. On the other hand, often long-distance relationships don’t work as a result of lost intimacy.

It may be harder to resolve conflicts or to work through any issues that led to the breakup, as you may not have the opportunity to have regular face-to-face interactions.

Another important fact is that there’s a general belief among people of all ages, genders, and cultures that time can heal their wounds. 

The result?

People try to keep themselves busy to let themselves move on. Therefore, 63% of individuals reported that time helped them move on from their partners for good.

2) Age

You won’t be surprised if you understand that people of different ages don’t get together with their ex with the same frequency.

Often, the probability of someone getting back together with their ex is determined by their age. The same applies to the success of reconciliation.

What’s the age group that has the highest rate of getting back together after a breakup?

Well, according to the Thompson study, young people between the ages 18-24 are most likely to get back together with their partners. In fact, 44% of young adults get back together, but they rarely manage to maintain the relationship for a long time. Among them, 17% managed to move on within 3 months. 

On the other hand, even though people over 50 are less likely to get back together with their exes, they have more success in restoring relationships and keeping their partners for a lifetime after reconciliation. 

So, who’s the least likely to get back together?

Based on the study results, 25-30 year old individuals were less successful in getting their former partners back.

3) Relationship status

Relationship status can also affect the decision to get back together with an ex in a few different ways. In fact, availability, emotional attachment, satisfaction, and timing play a crucial role when it comes to getting back with your ex.

It’s not rare for people to start new relationships with different people after a breakup. Therefore, availability is an important factor — if one or both partners are in a new relationship, it may be more difficult to consider getting back together with an ex. This is especially true if either partner is committed to their current relationship.

The same can be said about emotional attachment: if one or both partners have moved on and are emotionally attached to their current partner, it may be more difficult to consider getting back together with an ex.

But the most important factor regarding relationship status is, indeed, timing. If one or both partners have recently ended a relationship, they may not be ready to commit to a new one right away. This could affect the decision to get back together with an ex.

Besides, satisfaction from your relationship affects how likely you are to get back together with your ex. In fact, 78% of participants said they were happy in the relationship before a breakup.

4) Culture

It’s nothing new that culture and origins affect the way people make decisions. But can it also have any effect on whether people are likely to get back together with their exes?

Apparently, it is.

The reason why culture can influence the decision-making process regarding getting back with your ex is that we receive different types of social feedback when it comes to our romantic relationships in different cultures.

People from different cultures have different perceptions regarding relationships and marriage. Not surprisingly, their expectations are also different. 

For example, while western cultures usually support freedom in relationships, eastern cultures value traditional gender roles and security in families. As a result, switching partners and starting new relationships are more likely in individualist cultures. 

Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a study that compares the probability of getting your ex back in individualistic and collectivistic cultures. However, considering their traditional values, it’s likely that collectivist people are more likely to restore their marriages and reconcile their relationships.

5) Values

What about values? Can they affect whether people succeed in getting back together or not?

Generally, values are important principles or beliefs that guide a person’s actions and decisions. 

When it comes to getting back together with an ex, values can play a significant role in the decision-making process. 

Why?

Because if a person’s values are incompatible with their ex’s values, it may be difficult to consider getting back together. 

Let’s consider an example.

If one person values honesty and loyalty and the other person has a history of infidelity, it may be difficult for the relationship to be successful.

Similarly, the other person might value compassion and empathy, while their partner might be an individualistic person who puts their own needs before others.

So, here’s the thing:

People who broke up as a result of incompatibility or whose basic values significantly differ from one another have less chance to successfully get back together and maintain relationships. 

Still, if you and your partner have different values, it doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to navigate these values and accept each other’s different opinions. 

6) Attachment 

Are you still attached to your ex after a breakup? 

Believe it or not, attachment plays a significant role in romantic relationships. How so?

Based on studies, there are a few ways attachment might influence the decision to get back together with an ex:

• Level of attachment 

If a person is still emotionally attached to their ex, they may be more likely to consider getting back together. 

On the other hand, if they have moved on and are no longer emotionally attached, they may be less likely to consider getting back together.

• Fear of loss

If a person is still emotionally attached to their ex, they may be more likely to consider getting back together out of fear of losing them.

Keep in mind that this applies to both the male and female genders.

• Comfort and familiarity

Sometimes the reason we’re happy in our relationships is that our partners provide a sense of comfort and familiarity. This, in turn, leads to a feeling of emotional attachment.

So, if you have a history of experiencing comfort and security with your ex-partner, you’re more likely to consider getting back together.

7) Personality traits

And the final important factor that affects getting back together with an ex is an individual’s personality traits. 

In order to understand how personality traits work, you should know that we’re referring to the so-called Big 5 personality traits, identified by American psychologist Lewis Goldberg.

According to his theory, openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism are the universal personality traits that characterize every individual in the world by different degrees.

Here are a few ways that the Big Five personality traits might influence the decision to get back together with an ex:

• Openness — Someone who scores high in openness may be more open to trying new things and may be more open to the idea of getting back together with an ex if they believe it could lead to a positive outcome.
• Conscientiousness — People who score high in conscientiousness are often described as being disciplined, thorough, and dependable. Therefore, high levels of conscientiousness increase the chance of succeeding in getting back together with an ex.
• Extraversion — Extravert people require less time to recover and get over their exes, while introverts find it much harder to adapt. This means that introverts are more likely to get back together with their exes.
• Agreeableness — Agreeable people may value maintaining harmony in their social groups. Therefore, if they already moved on after a breakup, it’s less likely that they will try to get their exes back. But if they struggle to recover, then they’re more likely to consider getting back together with an ex compared to less agreeable people.
• Neuroticism — Neurotic people often feel anxious or uncertain about their future after breakups. As a result, they might consider getting back with their exes. However, chances are that their high level of anxiety won’t allow them to succeed.

5 common reasons why exes get back together

Studies about the dynamics of romantic relationships around the world show somewhat similar reasons why people get back together with their exes. Here are the top 5 reasons why exes get back together:

1) Lingering feelings

According to a study published in the Journal of Social Psychology, the most common reason why people tend to get back together with their ex-lovers is lingering feelings.

In simple words, they just can’t get over each other and continue to experience strong romantic feelings even after a breakup. Not surprisingly, this leads them to think about getting back together with their partners and restoring the relationship.

2) Breakup gives them a new perspective

Some of the people who broke up and got back together with their ex-partners admitted that being apart from their partners allowed them to realize how much they valued the relationship. 

Why so? Because the breakup provides an opportunity to spend time with yourself, reflect on your feelings and thoughts, and realize what you truly desire, As a result, many couples restored their relationship as they figured out that being in a relationship with one another was something they really needed and wanted.

3) They have a strong support system

Having a strong support system of friends and family can help exes feel more confident about getting back together. It’s especially true if your family members know your ex and support your relationship.

First of all, having the support of others can make it easier to navigate any challenges that may arise in the relationship. But people also stated that they were pushed by their parents or relatives to restore relationships and save their families due to collectivist traditions.

4) Their ex is better than other partners

Sometimes people start to develop other relationships before they find someone better than their ex. However, they often realize that even though their ex-partners weren’t perfect, they were better than everyone else.

It can be comforting to be with someone you already know well, even if the relationship wasn’t perfect. Exes might feel more comfortable and secure getting back together with their ex because they are familiar with each other’s habits, quirks, and ways of interacting.

5) Regret

And the final reason is the simplest and one of the most obvious ones — people just regret breaking up with their ex so they choose to get back together. Regret can be a powerful emotion that can lead people to want to get back together with their ex. 

When someone regrets ending a relationship, they might feel like they made a mistake and want to fix it. They might feel like they let something good slip away and want to try again to make things work.

Celebrities that got back together in 2022

After having a look at the statistics of regular people who undergo breakups and reunite with their partners, it’s time to see whether famous people also manage to reconcile their relationships/

Celebrities may live their lives in the public eye, but that doesn’t mean they’re immune to the ups and downs of relationships. 

Just like the rest of us, they can experience heartbreak and the desire to get back together with an ex. 

Perhaps not surprisingly, even the most high-profile relationships can hit rough patches. But for some of our favorite celebrities, the love was just too strong to let go.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the most high-profile celebrity reunions in 2022. From long-term relationships to brief flings, this list of celebrities that got back together can let you see if love really does conquer all in the world.

• Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin
• Chris Rock and Lake Bell
• Dave & Odette Annable
• Dax Shepard & Kristen Bell
• Miley Cyrus and Maxx Morando
• Adam Levine & Behati Prinsloo
• Peyton List and Jacob Bertrand
• Alexa Chung and Tom Sturridge
• Sebastian Stan and Annabelle Wallis
• Olivia Rodrigo and Zack Bia
• Justin & Hailey Bieber
• Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne
• Austin Butler and Kaia Gerber
• Lili Reinhart and Spencer Neville
• Winnie Harlow & Kyle Kuzma
• Diddy and Yung Miami
• Katie Holmes and Bobby Wooten III
• Demi Moore and Daniel Humm

Final thoughts: is it really possible to work things out after a breakup?

To sum up, the ex back statistics of 2023 show that it’s actually possible to rekindle the romance and get back together with your ex. 

Yes, believe it or not, after a breakup, one thing that most of us immediately think about is assessing whether our decision was right and whether we should give our ex-partners another chance. 

The fact that 44% of the US adults got back together with their ex partners proves that most times, this chance actually leads to a happy and fulfilling relationship.