Half of Your Friends Are Replaced Every Seven Years

Our happy hour fact to amaze your drinking buddies with.

Every seven years you lose around half of your friends, and replace them with new friends.

Dutch researchers asked 1,007 people between the ages of 18-65 questions such as "Who do you talk with about personal issues?" and "Who do you pop by to see?" Seven years later, they were able to re-interview the majority of the original group, and found, while the overall size of personal networks remained relatively stable, about half of the participants' friends had cycled out.

The researchers also confirmed that who you befriend isn't simply based on personal choice, but is largely shaped by the context of your everyday life.

If you'd like to shorten the seven-year cycle, we suggest writing a euphemism for female genitalia on your friend's forehead every time he passes out.

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