This successfully gathered representative data mapping a range of topics related to sexual health and well-being in the Czech population. These topics include dating, relationships, sexual well-being, difficulties in sexual functioning, paraphilic preferences, sexual milestones, masturbation and frequency of sexual activities, sexual violence, chemsex, sexually transmitted diseases, LGBTQ+ issues, consumption of pornography and online sexual activities, and societal attitudes towards these topics.

Sexual Milestones and Sexual Well-Being

"The average age of first sexual intercourse for women is 17.46 years, and for men, it is on average 18.33 years. The average age of first sexual intercourse has not significantly changed since the last survey in 2013. In that year, women reported an average age of first sexual intercourse at 17.73 years, and men reported an average age of 17.79 years. The average age of first sexual intercourse is lower in younger age cohorts. In the youngest age category of women (18-25 years), the average age of first sexual intercourse is 16.63 years, and for men in the same age range, it is 17.21 years," describes Mgr. Kateřina Klapilová, Ph.D., head of the Center for Sexual Health and Interventions at NUDZ and the principal methodologist of the CZECHSEX survey.

"Our data also indicate that women begin masturbating at an average age of 16.61 years. For men, it is slightly earlier, at an average of 14.24 years. This figure remains consistent with the 2013 data, where men reported an average age of first masturbation at 14.04 years, and women at 16.17 years. The trend towards earlier onset of masturbation is particularly noticeable among women, with the youngest age cohort reporting an average age of 13.38 years. In contrast, women in the oldest age cohort (66-75 years) began masturbating at an average age of 20.33 years. Similarly, the age of first watching pornography has decreased across age cohorts. In the youngest age cohort (18-25 years), the average age for women is 14.52 years and for men 14.18 years, while in the oldest age cohort (65-75 years), women began watching pornography at an average age of 31.75 years and men at 28.41 years," says Dr. Klapilová.

Most people across age categories have been generally satisfied with their sex life over the past 12 months. The vast majority prefer partner sexual activities over masturbation.

Frequency of Sexual Activities

It appears that 5.93% of women and 8.43% of men have never had sex. Among the age cohort of 18-25 years, this includes 54.4% of men and 30% of women. Even among the oldest generation, there are people who have never had sex, specifically 4% of women and 2.4% of men in the 65-75 age cohort.

"The frequency of sexual activities decreases with age. Even among current young people, it remains surprisingly low. The data shows that women had sex with another person an average of 0.71 times in the last month, and men 0.99 times. Thus, the average frequency of sex in the Czech population is less than once in the last month (during the data collection period). In the 18-25 age category, it was on average 1.7 times for women and 1.3 times for men in the last month. This aligns with the reported average monthly frequency over the past year. Women and men typically report having sex once or a few times per month in the past year. Among those who had a long-term partner during the data collection, the frequency of sex with their partner was on average 5.72 times per month for men and 5.63 times for women," describes Prof. PhDr. Petr Weiss, Ph.D., DSc., the research guarantor.

The frequency of masturbation varies significantly across different age cohorts. In the youngest cohort (18-25 years), women masturbate on average 4.06 times per month and men 8.80 times per month. The frequency then significantly decreases with age. Never having masturbated in their lifetime was reported by 21.3% of women and 5.2% of men. Women masturbated on average 1.96 times in the last month, and men 5.39 times. Over the past year, women most commonly reported an average frequency of masturbation of once or a few times per year, while men reported once or a few times per month.

"At first glance, it seems that the frequency of sexual activities has decreased since the last national survey of sexual behavior. In 2013, women reported a monthly frequency of masturbation of 5.56 times and men 9.13 times. In partnerships, women reported an average frequency of intercourse of 8.37 times and men 9.57 times per month. However, the higher overall figures are due to differences in the methodology of the two surveys," adds Professor Weiss.

Sexual Problems (Dysfunctions)

The data indicates that some form of sexual problem has occurred for at least a few months during their lifetime for 61.19% of women and 55.01% of men. However, not all of these problems caused stress. The presence of dysfunction along with clinically significant stress (i.e., a diagnosable disorder according to the new ICD-11 classification) was found in 21.41% of women and 16.06% of men.

"Sexual problems are not uncommon for either women or men. Among women, the most common issues at some point in life were decreased sexual desire (44.8%) and difficulty achieving orgasm (44.6%). Issues with sexual arousal occurred in 42.7% of women, pain during intercourse in 19.6%, and sexual compulsivity (i.e., problems managing sexual urges, such as excessive consumption of pornography) in 16.5%. Among men, erectile problems were the most common, occurring at some point in life in 26.1%, and more frequently with increasing age: 6.6% in the 18-25 age group compared to 26.3% in the 66-75 age group. Decreased sexual desire occurred in 24.4% of men, premature ejaculation in 24.6%, delayed ejaculation in 23.0%, and sexual compulsivity in 23.8%. Despite this, only 4.6% of men and 5% of women who experienced any of these issues sought professional help," describes MUDr. Libor Zámečník, Ph.D., head of the Sexology Institute of the First Faculty of Medicine at Charles University and General University Hospital.

In the past year, 21.3% of women experienced difficulty achieving orgasm. This is comparable to the German national survey GeSiD from 2019, in which 23.6% of women reported this issue in the past year. Similar numbers are also seen for the prevalence of erectile dysfunction in men over the past year. Our data shows that 14% of men had trouble achieving or maintaining an erection in the past year, compared to 13.6% in the GeSiD survey.

"We also mapped the ways women achieve orgasm. The data shows that women most often achieve orgasm through clitoral stimulation during masturbation (in 43.9% of cases), while during partner sexual activities, they most often achieve orgasm through combined stimulation (in 48.6% of cases). Some women also reported that they do not achieve orgasm during masturbation or partner activities. This was the case for 4.4% of women during masturbation and 4.2% during partner sex," adds Mgr. Lucie Krejčová, Ph.D., from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Sexual Violence

16.8% of women and 4.9% of men have been coerced into sexual activities through threats or violence at some point in their lives. This translates to 896,720 women and 254,141 men when adjusted for the population size. Additionally, at least 29.9% of women and 16.9% of men have experienced unwanted sexual contact (e.g., groping), which amounts to 1,595,948 women and 876,526 men.

"Our data also indicates that among women who have experienced sexual violence, 19% encountered it for the first time before the age of 15. For men, this figure is 7.5%. One of the most alarming findings is that victims overwhelmingly do not report sexual harassment and rape to the police. In our sample, 93.1% of women and 98% of men did not report the incident. The most common reasons for not reporting to the police were not recognizing the situation as rape (42.4% of women and 58.4% of men) and shame (29.3% of women and 14.7% of men)," explains Dr. Klapilová.

Relationships and Dating

At the time of the survey, 73.7% of respondents were in long-term relationships. Among them, 26.7% indicated that they also had a relationship that was solely sexual in addition to their long-term partnership.

"People most often meet through friends (29.6%), at work or school (20.0%), or during social activities (17.5%). Data from abroad also show a shift towards online dating. In the Czech Republic, approximately 13.4% of couples meet online, which is higher than the 2019 German national survey GeSiD, where 9% of couples met online. Young people are the most likely to meet online (20.7% in the youngest cohort, 18-25 years), with the use of online spaces for meeting new partners decreasing with age (4.9% in the oldest cohort, 66-75 years)," explains Markéta Šetinová, Ph.D., founder of the Institute of Modern Love.

Regarding the number of sexual partners, the data shows that women have an average of 8.6 sexual partners over their lifetime, while men have 11.6. "This difference in the number of partners between genders, with women having fewer sexual partners on average than men, has been observed over time. It may be attributed to both social stigma and improperly chosen data analysis methodology. Looking at the median of our data, men and women both most commonly report having 5 sexual partners, indicating that the number is balanced across genders. Particularly, women in our survey report more sexual partners than in past surveys, which may be due to increased societal tolerance towards the topic of female sexuality," adds Markéta Šetinová.

LGBTQ+ Population

The CZECHSEX survey found that 7% of the population identifies as having a non-heterosexual orientation, which translates to 736,230 people. These findings align with international data, which report a prevalence of 5-10%. The most common non-heterosexual orientation is bisexuality/pansexuality, affecting 3.2% of the population, or 341,440 people. The second largest group is gay men, comprising 2% of the population, or 213,400 people, followed by lesbians at 0.6%, or 64,020 people. Non-binary and gender-diverse individuals make up 0.4% of the population, approximately 42,680 people.

"For 33.5% of the Czech population, it is completely acceptable for homosexual couples to have the same rights as heterosexual couples. However, 14.3% of the population still finds this absolutely unacceptable. Additionally, 22.7% of the population finds it completely unacceptable for transgender people not to undergo sterilization when legally changing their gender, while 20.3% of people find this completely acceptable," says Mgr. Andrea Stašek from the Institute for Psychological Research at Masaryk University.

Online Sexual Activities

Throughout their lives, 78.5% of people have watched pornography, while 21.5% have never watched it. Men are more experienced in this regard, with 89.5% having watched pornography at some point, compared to only 67.6% of women. The highest percentage of people who have never watched pornography is found among older generations. Among people aged 55-75, 27.7% have never watched it. Those in middle age have the most experience with watching pornography, with only 16.4% never having watched it.

"4% of men and 1% of women consume pornography daily or multiple times a day. People aged 18-34 are the most at risk for pornography addiction (or compulsive sexual behavior disorder related to watching pornography). In this age group, 5.4% are at risk. This risk is more common among men (4.3%) than women (1.6%)," explains Associate Professor Anna Ševčíková, Ph.D., a researcher at the Institute for Psychological Research at Masaryk University. People are also gaining experience with new online sexual activities. For example, 12% of men and 4% of women have experience with "live sex" (live video streaming of pornography on the internet). Additionally, 17% of men and 5% of women have not yet tried live sex but would like to. Sexting (sending nude photos at least once in life) is experienced by 30% of both men and women.

Detailed analyses will be conducted

Data collection for the CZECHSEX survey took place in two ways: online and through face-to-face interviews. Respondents were selected based on quotas (gender, age, education, location, and size of residence). A total of 4660 responses were collected online and 2009 responses were collected through face-to-face interviews.

The data presented in this press release should be viewed as preliminary, although it should not change significantly. "Further, more detailed analysis of individual areas will take place, and specialized articles and reports will be gradually published. We will inform about the progress and partial results on the website www.intimitavcr.cz/.

In 2025, a comprehensive publication in Czech with a detailed analysis of Sexual Behavior, Health, and Well-being of the Czech population is planned," concludes Dr. Klapilová.

 

 

 

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