The average age at which young people are losing their virginity is dropping at a dramatic rate. Canada joins the United States in having the youngest sexually active population, with youth losing their virginity at an average age of 15, almost a full year younger than the global average age of 15.9.
The average age for losing your virginity in Australia is somewhere between 16-18 years old, and now that Louise is 22, she's starting to really freak out that she's still a virgin.
By 15 years about 13% of teens have had sexual intercourse. By the time they reach 19 years 7 out of 10 teens have had sexual intercourse at least once.
For example, people who live in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland are believed to lose their virginity as young as 16 years of age. In Iceland, which is not far from Scandinavian countries, it is believed that children there lose their virginity at about 15 years of age.
The study ranked the countries in order of age starting with the oldest. The country to top the list was Malaysia, where people lose their virginity on average at 23 years of age. Next on the list were India (22.9), Singapore (22.8) and China (22.1).
First things first: there is no right or wrong age to lose your virginity. The only factors that matter when it comes to having sex for the first time is that both you and your partner are ready, you both have consented, and you're using protection.
The study ranked the countries in order of age starting with the oldest. The country to top the list was Malaysia, where people lose their virginity on average at 23 years of age. Next on the list was India (22.9), Singapore (22.8) and China (22.1).
The average age of first sexual intercourse in New Zealand is 17.6 according to the Durex 2000 Global Sex Survey (for which they interviewed 10,000 respondents throughout 15 countries). If you split that figure between the sexes, it's generally estimated to be at around 17 for men and 16 for women.
The CDC reports that the average age of losing one's virginity, referring to penetrative intercourse, is 17.3 years for women and 17.0 years for men, according to 2011-2015 research data.
While there may be an average age people have sex for the first time, there's really no right or wrong age for you to lose your virginity — it only matters what you're comfortable with and when you feel ready.
If you're curious to see if you have a hymen or what it looks like, you can take a look yourself at home with a hand mirror and a flashlight. The hymen may be visible if you part the labia on your vulva and look inside the vaginal passage.
There are no physical signs that a person has had sex for the first time. Although some people claim that a torn hymen is a sign of “lost virginity,” this is not true. Many people tear their hymen before having penetrative sex, and others never tear theirs.
Losing your virginity is an idea, not a physical change
Even if we don't agree on what, exactly, counts as sex, most people have some idea of what it means to be sexually active. And the fact remains that when you enter into a sexual relationship with someone, it's still a big deal.
Among young adults in particular, virginity is common.
Asia-Pacific countries have the highest concentration of young adult virgins (84% in Malaysia and Singapore, 78% in Indonesia, 53% in Thailand, 47% in the Philippines). Virginity is also quite common among adults 18 to 24 in the US, at 53%.
During those 15 years, the average age at which Chinese people reported having their first sexual encounter trended steadily downward. In 2000, sexually active men under age 30 lost their virginity at 22.6 years old on average. For women in the same group, the average was 21.7 years old.
However, the average age Brits revealed they'd lost their V at was 17 years, with half of Britons having sex for the first time between the ages of 16 and 18. One in six (17%) lost their virginity at the age of 16, with similar numbers doing so at age 17 (16%) and age 18 (17%).
In some girls, there is so much tissue that stretching the hymen open during first intercourse may cause pain and bleeding. Guys do not have hymens, so this is not an issue for them.
Virginity is not a psychological problem. There is no “normal” age at which to have sex or appropriate amount of sex to have.
And in South Africa, as in most of the world, the average age of first penetrative sex is 18. Despite this, there are many adults who are choosing to remain virgins.
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.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that an estimated 45% of people lose their virginity after becoming legal adults at age 18, with respective percentages of people of all gender identities waiting until their 20s, 30s, and even later to have sex for the first time.
Only three per cent of 14-year-olds have lost their virginity or had oral sex, a study has claimed. In comparison, studies have suggested 30 per cent of those born in the 1980s and 1990s had sex before the age of 16.
The truth is, it doesn't matter. Virginity is a big, socially-constructed idea that makes us virgins think there's something wrong with us because we haven't had a sexual experience yet. In reality, sex is not everything in life. Sex does not define your career, your education or your relationships with other people.
Lots of people haven't had sex by 17, and many more wait until even later. There's nothing weird, unusual, or immature about being abstinent at any age. Having sex doesn't make you more grown-up — in fact, waiting is one of the most mature decisions you can make.