People In Rich Countries Have More Sexual Partners

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Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: HIV / AIDS;  Fertility;  Public Health
Article Date: 01 Nov 2006 - 9:00 PDT

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Even though monogamy still dominates globally, people in developed countries tend to have a higher number of sexual partners than people in the developing world, say researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, after examining data from 59 countries. Even so, the incidence and prevalence of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) and HIV is higher in the developing world.

You can read about this study in The Lancet.

The researchers said that although promiscuity is a factor in the number of STD cases, poverty and mobility have a much greater impact.

The majority of people worldwide said they only had one sexual partner during the past 12 months.

Surprisingly, the researchers' findings did not indicate that people were engaging in sexual activity at a younger age - there was no evidence that people are having sexual intercourse earlier. Most males and females worldwide start becoming sexually active when they are 15 - 19. In the United Kingdom, girls, on average, have their first sexual intercourse at 17.5 years of age, while boys do so when they are 16.5.

People under 25 from developed countries tend to have more sexual partners than people of the same age in developing countries. Single people in developed countries are much more sexually active than single people in developing countries. In Africa two-thirds of single males and females had had sex during the last 12 months, compared to three-quarters in developed countries.

Study author, Professor Kaye Wellings, when referring to higher rates of STDs in developing countries, said: "This suggests social factors such as poverty, mobility and gender equality may be a stronger factor in sexual ill-health than promiscuity....Men and women have sex for different reasons and in different ways in different settings. This diversity needs to be respected in a range of approaches tailored to whole societies, and to particular groups and individuals within them. The selection of public-health messages needs to be guided by epidemiological evidence rather than by myths and moral stances."

"Sexual behaviour in context: a global perspective
Prof Kaye Wellings FRCOG, Martine Collumbien MSc, Emma Slaymaker MSc, Susheela Singh PhD, Zoé Hodges MSc, Dhaval Patel PhD and Nathalie Bajos PhD
The Lancet DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69479-8
Click here to see article online (you may need to provide 'username' and 'password')

Click here to go to the following additional titles in The Lancet
-- Sexual and Reproductive Health - a matter of life and death
-- Sexual behaviour in context
-- Family Planning: the Unfinished Agenda
-- Unsafe abortion: The Preventable Pandemic
-- Global control of sexually transmitted infections
-- Sexual and reproductive health for all - A call for action

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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