It can be difficult to know who to trust these days but the latest findings from a nationwide study, which questioned over 5000 people in 14 cities across the UK & Scotland about their friendships, has revealed that:
- 48% of people admitted they had lied to a good friend before, with women proving more likely (49%) than men (45%) to have fibbed to a friend.
- Nottingham friends are the most trustworthy with only 20% of residents admitting they had lied to a pal before, followed by Birmingham where 71% claim they had never lied to a friend before. Oxford folk were most likely to lie to friends with over 66% admitting it in the survey.
- People in the north are more honest and upfront with their friends than those down south with northern cities including Leeds and Manchester accounting for the top five most trustworthy cities. Bristol, Brighton, Cardiff, London and Oxford were in the bottom five. Sheffield was the only exception, the second to worst offender where 60% of people confessed to lying to friends.
- Overall in the UK, 32% of those surveyed admitted to having fancied a friend’s partner. However, when looking at the gender split, 55% of men stated they had fancied their friend’s girlfriend, compared to just 24% of women.
- The city to hold on to your girlfriend or boyfriend the tightest proved to be in Birmingham, with 62% of residents admitting they had fancied their friend’s partner in the past. In Nottingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow, the divide was 50/50.
- And to find friends you can trust NOT to lust after your partner head to Leeds and Newcastle, where only 7% said they had fancied a friends partner before, followed by Cardiff and Manchester (29%)
Sanchita Saha, CEO & founder of CitySocialising said:
“The study is an interesting snap shot of the behaviour of people towards their friends across the UK. Trust is an incredibly important aspect within any relationship and it’s surprising that half of us have lied to a friend before. However, I’d like to think that this is more about telling little white lies to save feelings as opposed to being two-faced or untrustworthy. I think women everywhere will be very pleased to know that it’s not so likely for your friends to fancy your boyfriend, but it’s the men out there that I would recommend to choose their friends carefully!”
Source: CitySocialising