Averages up: 6 for men, 4 for women
Number of opposite sex partners
ever, Great Britain
The average (median) number of
lifetime heterosexual partners was six for men and
four for women (aged 16 to 44 at time of interview
in 1999-2001). A far higher proportion of men than
women reported ten or more lifetime partners (35 per
cent of men compared with 19 per cent of women).
One in 100 men reported 100
or more partners, while one in 100 women reported
40 or more. Women were more likely to report fewer
partners than men – 18 per cent of men and 24
per cent of women reported none or only one lifetime
sexual partner.
The previous survey was carried
out in 1989/90 at a time of concern about the rising
epidemic of HIV/AIDS. Since then the proportion of
men and women reporting two or fewer lifetime partners
has fallen while the proportion reporting five or
more has increased. For women the median increased
from two to four lifetime partners, while men reported
an increase from four to six.
The median age of first heterosexual
intercourse was 17 for both men and women. One in
four men (27 per cent) and one in five women (20 per
cent) reported first intercourse before the age of
16.
Around 6 per cent of both men
and women reported having sex with a same sex partner.
This was an increase from 4 per cent of men and 2
per cent of women ten years previously.
