Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - November 16, 2001
Thebe Mabanga
People prefer to have sex on the beach (a possible explanation for the popularity of the cocktail with the same name), the back seat of the car loses out to the Jacuzzi and the woods as favourite spots for getting naked and the Mile High Club is ranked eighth behind the kitchen table but ahead of the office.
These are some of the findings of the 2001 Durex Global Sex Survey conducted among 18 500 sexually active and inactive individuals worldwide. South Africa and Nigeria were the two African countries among the 28 surveyed.
According to the survey, it would appear that as soon as the world's young adults hit the age of 18 they start having sex. Americans lead the pack by starting at 16 and the Chinese are late bloomers at 22.
The age of losing innocence is continually falling with those now 16 to 20 years old having started at about 16, while the older generation (25 to 34) began at about 18. Baby boomers surveyed were, on average, well over eighteen-and-a-half when they explored the ways of the world.
The survey goes some way to debunk the myth that promiscuity is a contributing factor to the scale of Africa's Aids epidemic. On average, the world's sexually active people have about 7,7 sexual partners in their lifetime. Nigerians have about 4,2 while South Africans have 8,2, which comes nowhere near the Americans' 14,2.
Sex education is now more widely available to the world's youth than to previous generations - 85% of 16 to 20-year-olds receive sex education in the classroom, with Holland starting the earliest at twelve-and-half years.
Sex education seems to be making a difference as 65% of 16 to 20-year-olds around the world are concerned about becoming infected with HIV/Aids - more than any other age group.
A worry though is the 46% of those surveyed who remain unconcerned about contracting the virus.
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