Revealed: The average Brit’s sex life – so how does yours compare?
>
It’s often seen as a taboo subject, but a new study is finally lifting the lid on Britons’ sex lives.
Researchers from the University of East Anglia surveyed more than 5,000 Brits to decipher what the sex life of the average man and woman is like.
And there’s good news if you haven’t had much action: You’re not alone.
The results show that most Brits have had zero or one sexual partner in the past three weeks.
Dr. Julii Brainard, who led the research at the University of East Anglia, said: ‘People often assume that everyone has a lot of sex, but studies like this show that the real story is much more complicated.’
Between the sheets: It’s often seen as a taboo subject, but a new study is finally lifting the lid on Brits’ sex lives. This graph illustrates the percentage of people who have recently had sex
Researchers from the University of East Anglia surveyed more than 5,000 Brits to decipher what the sex lives of average men and women are like (stock image)
| Age | Gentlemen | Women |
|---|---|---|
| 18-24 | 58% | 68% |
| 25-29 | 61% | 77% |
| 30-34 | 73% | 75% |
| 35-39 | 59% | 63% |
| 40-44 | 63% | 64% |
| 45-49 | 55% | 69% |
| 50-54 | 52% | 53% |
| 55-59 | 53% | 47% |
| 60-64 | 46% | 33% |
| 65-69 | 49% | 32% |
| 70-74 | 50% | 23% |
| 75+ | 49% | 21% |
| Percentages indicate how many people have had sex in the past three weeks | ||
In the study, researchers surveyed more than 5,000 people in Britain last year, asking whether they had had sex in the past three weeks.
Only 31 percent of heterosexual women aged 45 to 49 said they had no sexual partners in the past three weeks.
But that rose to 47 percent of women aged 50 to 54.
Of women in their early sixties, two-thirds had not had sex for at least three weeks.
The figures include women who do not have regular sex with their husband or partner, and those who are single – perhaps after a divorce in midlife.
In contrast, among heterosexual men, the number who reported no sex in the past three weeks did not increase dramatically with age.
Dr. Brainard said: ‘These results can be seen as good news for older women who are having less sex than when they were younger, because they know they are normal.’
Only 31 percent of heterosexual women aged 45 to 49 said they had no sexual partners in the past three weeks. But that rose to 47 percent of women aged 50 to 54 (stock image)
The findings come from a snapshot study that seeks to understand the risk of infection from MPox, previously known as monkeypox, and looked at gay and bisexual men, heterosexual men and heterosexual women.
The authors conclude that everyone is less likely to have regular sex as they get older, but this shift is happening at a younger age, and even more dramatically, among heterosexual women.
Only about a quarter of women surveyed in their late 20s and early 30s had not had sex with a partner in the past three weeks.
This rose to around 37 percent for those in their late 30s and early 40s, before reaching 31 percent for those in their late 40s.
But then came the jump to 47 percent of women in their early 50s having had no recent sex, and 52 percent of women in their late 50s.
By the time women reached their 60s, about two-thirds had not had sex in the previous three weeks, and by their 70s, more than three-quarters said they had not.
Among heterosexual men, only about half said they had not had sex recently, with this percentage remaining about the same for every age group from late 40s to over-75s.
Men can avoid a sex slump in middle age by having partners who are younger than themselves and who are still more interested in sex.
But it could also be that male pride means that men are less likely to admit or remember that they haven’t had sex in the past three weeks, while women are more likely to underreport the sex they’ve had.
The research, published in the journal PLOS One, interestingly found that very few heterosexual British people have had two or more different partners in the past three weeks.
Having multiple recent sexual partners was most common among 18- to 24-year-olds and was reported by about 14 percent of this age group.
WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON SONGS PEOPLE LISTEN DURING SEX?
According to Spotify, some of the best sex songs this year are:
- Deserved it (Fifty Shades of Grey) by The Weeknd
- Birthday sex by Jeremih
- Often from The Weeknd
- All The Time by Jeremih, Lil Wayne, Natasha Mosley
- Ginuwine’s pony
- Ride with SoMo
- Sex With Me by Rihanna
- Slow motion by Trey Songz
- Of Nah (feat. The Weeknd, Wiz Khalifa and DJ Mustard) – Remix by Ty Dolla $ign
- The Hills by The Weeknd
A new app called Bed Beats allows couples to personalize their sex playlists based on their movements during sex