Indians among oldest in the world to lose virginity

THE FIRST TIME: About half of all women say they don't have happy memories of their first intercourse.

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Keywords: Durex Survey, sexual behaviour

New Delhi: The Austrians taste it as early as at 17.3 years and the Americans at 18 years. But the people in Asian countries lose their virginity at a much older age. While the average age is 22.1 years for the Chinese and 23 years for Malaysians, the Indians go for it at an average age of 22.9 years.

These were the findings of a worldwide study of sexual behaviour and contraceptive use — called the 2007 Face of Global Sex report — which was published by Durex Network on Tuesday.

The report also states that teenagers are becoming more and more aware about possible repercussions of unsafe sex and are using contraception even during their first sexual encounter. In fact, the use of contraception in first sexual encounter has increased eight fold among today's teenagers as compared to those who are now aged 65 years or above.

The survey, which covered some 26,000 people in 26 countries, also says that about half of all women (just under 50 per cent) either regret or did not have happy memories of their first intercourse and compared to around a third (32 per cent) of men.

The survey says Malaysians were the oldest to lose their virginity at 23.0 years old, followed by Indians (22.9) Singaporeans (22.8), Chinese (22.1), Thais (20.5), Hong Kongers (20.2), Nigerians (19.7) and Japanese (19.4).

Austrians were the first to lose their virginity at 17.3 years old, followed by Brazilians (17.4), Germans (17.6), New Zealanders (17.8), Australians (17.9) and Americans (18.0). On the average, the age for first having sex was 19.25 years, the study says.

But despite waiting longer, Malaysians came top among those who said they were the most ready for sex (41.5 per cent), followed by the Dutch, Greeks, Americans and Australians.

In contrast, Japanese, Nigerians, Thais and Hong Kongers said were the least ready for first sexual experience, with less than 13 per cent saying they were comfortable with losing their virginity when they did.

Meanwhile, more than a third of Nigerians (37.5 percent) said they felt pressured into losing their virginity — by far the highest percentage.

The research also found that people who discuss about sex and sexual health with their parents and partner are more likely to use contraception. Moreover, women are 25 per cent more likely than men to take precautions when they lose their virginity.