Sex Is Down Among Couples Due to “Sheer Pace of Modern Life”

Fewer than half of all those surveyed have sex at least once a week

Couples are having less sex
Couples are having less sex, a survey found. (Getty)
Getty Images/Cavan Images RF

A new study on the sexual activity of couples has discovered that the frequency in which they have sex is on the decline.

The research, which surveyed 34,000 men and women between the ages of 16 and 44 over a 20-year period, found that the number of people who reported having no sex at all over the course of a month shot up from 23 percent to 29 percent for women and 26 percent to 29 percent for men between the 2001 and 2012 surveys, USA Today reported.

These large declines were found most frequently among married or living together couples and those over 25-years-old — according to the study published Tuesday in the journal the BMJ that looked at surveys in 1991, 2001 and 2012.

“Several factors are likely to explain the declines, but one may be the sheer pace of modern life,” Kaye Wellings, lead author on the study and a professor of sexual health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said in a statement. “Men and women who, having started their families at older ages than previous generations, are often juggling childcare, work and responsibilities to parents who are getting older.”

From 2001 to 2012, those aged 35 to 44 went from having sex four times per month to just twice, the study saw and fewer than half of all those surveyed have sex at least once a week.

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