Every Second Czech Has Experienced a Partner's Infidelity: What a Major Deník.cz Survey Revealed

Half of the participants in a large-scale survey conducted by the Czech outlet Deník.cz admitted they had at some point experienced their partner's infidelity, while 44% confessed to having cheated themselves. The survey, conducted from June 1 to July 5, involved 9,632 respondents, though not everyone answered every question.

According to Deník.cz's editorial team, the highest share of unfaithful respondents was found among those aged 50–59, where the figure edges just past half. Infidelity was most commonly committed by people aged 30 to 49. Notably, among divorced respondents, 59% admitted to their own infidelity, while 73% said their partner had cheated on them.

An interesting detail: a quarter of respondents over 60 aren't sure whether their partner ever cheated on them or not — this kind of uncertainty is far less common in other age groups.

The outlet's analyst notes that infidelity rarely leaves people indifferent: 82% of those surveyed consider regular sex with another person to be cheating, but a significant share also classify less obvious behaviors as infidelity — romantic messaging (64%) and kissing (64%). In other words, emotional and "digital" cheating have long stopped being seen as trivial.

Šárka Hrabovská, a psychotherapist with the Hedepy platform, told the outlet that women come to her with infidelity-related issues more often — and in various roles: as the deceived party, as the one who cheated, or as the "third party." According to her, it's rarely just about the fact of the affair itself — usually the entire tangle of the relationship needs to be unpacked: what led up to it, what fell apart, and how to move forward.

The betrayed partner, the therapist says, goes through a genuine crisis of trust — shock, anger, hurt, humiliation, anxiety, and an intense need to know every detail of what happened and to regain a sense of control. Such a person usually needs solid proof that their partner is sincerely remorseful and genuinely values the relationship.

The person who cheated, on the other hand, often experiences the affair as a passionate and thrilling adventure — the parallel relationship may fulfill a need for intimacy, attention, excitement, or a sense of being desired. At the same time, feelings of guilt, shame, or fear of losing the official relationship, children, home, and familiar life often arise as well.

"The goal of infidelity usually isn't to hurt the partner," Hrabovská emphasizes. After being caught, the person who cheated typically wants to close the subject quickly and move on, whereas the betrayed partner, on the contrary, needs to return to the conversation again and again, seeking confirmation of remorse and evidence of real steps toward making things right.

According to the therapist, some couples survive infidelity and stay together, while others don't — but simply "sweeping it under the rug" almost never works. What helps is when the unfaithful partner takes responsibility, doesn't downplay the other's pain, and is willing to be completely open for a while. It's equally important for both partners to be ready to communicate more and figure out where the relationship had previously been neglected or undervalued — not as an excuse for the affair, but as a way to rebuild trust and set new terms together.

Pavel Turčan, head of the sexology and andrology department at the MEDIOL clinic in Olomouc, believes that infidelity almost always involves some degree of fault on both sides — for instance, because the couple was afraid to discuss or didn't know how to address brewing problems at home. The betrayed partner naturally has it harder, but if the couple wants to stay together, it's important to be able to forgive and give a second chance — and then genuinely leave the matter in the past, without bringing it up again and again as a reproach.

Turčan also notes that cheaters' feelings vary widely: some feel no remorse at all, though they're a minority — most people are genuinely sorry for having hurt their partner, even if there's no going back. Sometimes infidelity is the result of a relationship that had already been fading and merely speeds up an inevitable breakup, but at other times, quite the opposite happens: going through the experience of infidelity brings a couple closer together and strengthens their bond, provided the relationship was built on a solid foundation to begin with.

The outlet's analyst compared today's figures to a similar survey from 2019, when 38% of respondents reported experiencing a partner's infidelity, and 39% admitted to cheating themselves. Part of the increase, he says, can be explained by the older average age of this year's participants — older people have longer relationship histories behind them, and therefore more opportunities for infidelity to occur.

Around Prague, based on reporting by denik.cz