Lying Statistics & Facts: How Often Do People Lie?

Most people — about 75% of survey respondents — told zero to two lies per day. Find more lying statistics below.

Steven Zauderer

August 4, 2025

Interesting Lying Statistics & Facts

If you're wondering how often people lie, it's around zero to two lies per day. That's a lot of lies!

At four years of age, 90% of kids will understand the meaning of lying. According to research, about 60% of people 18 and older are incapable of having a conversation without lying once every ten minutes. On average, three lies are told by adults every ten minutes.
Parents are the primary victims of lying, with 86% of lies being told to them.
Second to parents are friends of individuals, who are lied to 75% of the time.
Siblings are the third most lied to, accounting for 73% of victims.
The fourth most lied to are our spouses, who are victims of lying 69% of the time.
Online, lies are most often seen on dating sites, where 90% of participants engage in untruthfulness. 40% of lies are seen on resumes.
On a daily occurrence, there are 12% of people 18 and older lie sometimes or quite often.
On occasion, 80% of women tell half-truths.
On CVs and resumes, 31% of people lie.
Doctors are often victims of lying, where 13% of patients admit to lying when talking to their physicians. This could be from the number of times one has smoked tobacco, taken medication, or engaged in intimacy without protection.
Stretching the truth is considered a form of lying, an occurrence committed by 32% of all patients at hospitals and healthcare centers.
30% of patients have lied about their exercise routine and food-eating habits.
On average, six lies are made to supervisors, partners, spouses, and workmates every day.
Every day, women tell three lies to their partners, supervisors, and co-workers.
Lying on a phone call during voice chat is 70% more likely to feature lies than a face-to-face chat.
10% of all lies can be defined as exaggerations, though 60% of all lies are considered to be deceptive.
Of all liars, 70% of them claim to be willing to do it again.
Every week, Americans tell 11 lies.
In a study of 11,366 lies told by 632 people over 91 days, 75% of them lied between 0 or 2 times per day. 6% of the participants had low lying levels, though lied more often on some days at random. In total, most of the lies were trivial, such as lying about how well one's day was going.
In another study, lies were studied over a brief period. The variety of people's lies tended to fluctuate. People that lie more often show greater variation than those who lie less often. The top 1% of all liars that lied 17 times each day had the most variance. The participants with little variance were the 1%, with nearly no instances of lying.
21% of people lie to avoid being around other people.
20% of people lie to be humorous, such as when telling a joke or making a prank.
Self-protection is the reason for 14% of people who lie.
13% of liars do so to make a good impression on others, or to appear more favorable to them.
11% of liars do it to protect someone else.
Personal gain or benefits are the reason that 9% of people tell lies.
2% of liars do it with the sole intent to hurt someone else.
5% of liars are unspecified, doing it for no apparent reason.

How Often Do People Lie?

In a survey, 75% of the participants admitted to lying between 0 to 2 times daily. During communication, 7% of it consisted of lying but only 10% were major lies. 90% of the time, the lies were trivial.

Does Everyone Lie?

Yes, everyone lies at times. Between ages 2 and 3 years old are the average ages for when a child tells their first lie.
When meeting someone for the first time, a person will lie to them twice or 3 times within a ten-minute timeframe.