In the last few years, the global divorce rate has increased by 251.8%. For instance, an average woman from the Maldives — the country with the highest divorce rate — goes through 3 divorces before she turns 30. The statistics are heartbreaking and the culprit behind it all has been identified by a Harvard study.

Bright Side found this study super-intriguing and would like to elaborate on it for our readers.

Researchers studied data dating back 45+ years and here’s what they found:

To dig deep, research conducted by a Harvard professor took data from over 6,300 couples, dating back to the 1970s. After observing the data, it was found that even though couples argue and divorce for multiple reasons, the rate of their probability to get divorced increases by 30% when the man is unemployed.

Men with part-time jobs or no jobs at all are most likely to get divorced.

And, it’s not just that. Households where men are working part-time jobs, are at an increased risk of getting divorced too. Elaborating further, the study adds that even when men work small jobs or stay unemployed against their will, this still leads to fights and tension in their marriages.

On the contrary, a woman’s lack of a job doesn’t lead to divorce.

Most women these days are busy perfectly balancing work and home, but according to the research, a woman’s job status has no effect on the probability divorce. The data collected from couples did not show a positive or negative influence of a woman’s financial status on divorce.

The research, however, leaves out many other factors.

That being said, there is no denying that every couple is different and the findings of the study may not apply to everyone. Additionally, it should be noted that the study didn’t consider same-sex couples or men who willingly chose to take care of their families while their wives worked. It mentions that women’s increasing economic independence can also be a reason for divorce but there is no valid proof to back up that claim yet.

Having a job is equally important for singles who are trying to date.

According to a survey, being financially independent is considered attractive, whereas individuals with a lot of debt are considered less desirable. Men and women were presented with headshots of people of the opposite gender and asked to rate them. Then, their debt status was revealed and it was observed that the ratings dropped for both sexes, who were not financially stable. However, the change was minor for women. For men, on the other hand, the ratings dropped drastically. 75% of the woman revealed that they would not date a man who is drowning in debt.