Sexual Trends in the United Kingdom

From the age of our first sexual encounter to making sure we take precautions during sex, our sexual behaviours and views are changing in the United Kingdom. These trends are not just obvious from one generation to the next, but within as little as a decade differences in our sexual choices are apparent.

With the help of surveys on sexual attitude and behaviours, here we outline some of the main sexual trends in the UK.

Sex and Young People

The most recent instalment of a national survey investigating attitudes and choices in relation to sex, which is conducted every 10 years, found that the average age for first sexual intercourse is 16 and that around 30% of men and women have sex before they are 16. Although one in six pregnancies in the United Kingdom is unplanned, the Family Planning Association reports that rates of teenage pregnancy have fallen by 12.5% in the last two years.

While teenage pregnancy is still more common in the UK than elsewhere in Western Europe, the continued fall in teenage conceptions is welcome news. The fact that STDs are more likely among teens and those in their early twenties and the efforts made to promote safe sexamong this age group, encouraging condom use with every sexual encounter, may in part explain reduced rates of teen pregnancy.

Sex and Older Adults

Teens are having sex at a younger age, but figures show that older adults are also having sex for longer. In fact, around 40% of women and 60% of men are still in sexual relationships between the age of 65 and 74. As we are living longer and are generally in better health and more active than previous generations, this is not surprising. However, research by the journal Student BMJ shows that rates of STDs, such as chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis, have doubled among the over 50s in the last 10 years. It therefore seems that the same messages about safe sex are not getting across to older adults, who may think the advice to always use a condom is not applicable to them, but obviously anyone who is sexually active can contract an STD if they don't take precautions.

Factors such as more of us divorcing later in life and the greater availability of drugs for erectile dysfunction may also be fuelling the rise in STDs among seniors.

Sexual Habits

More of us are having sex at each end of the age spectrum, but we are having sex less often in the United Kingdom than we did 10 years ago. Figures show that we have sex on average just five times each month and even though fewer of us live together as couples now, this cannot fully explain why we are having less frequent sexual encounters.

Another fact is that women now seem to have more sexual partners than a generation ago, though an average of seven sexual partners still puts women behind men's average of 11 partners. However, the good news is that the number of us having multiple sexual partners and not using a condom is falling, showing that more of us in society are conscious to practice safe sex.

Sexual Attitudes

It isn't just sexual habits that are changing, but sexual attitudes are also changing in UK society. For instance, although we have more partners, fewer of us now regard infidelity as acceptable behaviour. We are also a lot more tolerant of others sexuality, with more than twice as many of us having liberal views about same-sex relationships than we did 20 years ago.