What’s your number? It’s the question you don’t quite want to ask a prospective partner, but then again you really, really do. And as it turns out, it can vary greatly depending on where in the world you live.
Men’s mental health platform Manual has crunched data from 35 countries around the globe to find out which has the most sexually active men and found the global average is nine partners – also the average for men in the UK (9.8).
Almost half those countries surveyed hit double figures – men in Turkey have the highest number of sexual partners across their lifetime, with 14.5 on average. while the busy Antipodeans come next, so to speak, with Australian men boasting an average of 13.3 sexual partners, and New Zealand men 13.2.
But it’s not the southern hemisphere getting all the action. Iceland comes in at number four (with an average of 13 sexual partners), and Scandinavian men also feature high on the list, with Finland, Norway and Sweden all in the top 10.
You can see the full list below – though anyone who’s watched the American Pie franchise and knows its “rule of three” wisdom may wish to apply some healthy scepticism to these figures. You’re only as busy as you say you are, men.
Dr Earim Chaudry, medical director of Manual, also cautions against unhealthy use of the data.
“While people in some countries prove to have more sexual partners than others, it is important not to compare yourself to these figures,” he says. “Safe, consensual sex should always also be practised, and the number of sexual partners does not correlate with a man’s level of satisfaction with their sex life.”
The list is part of Manual’s Male Milestone: Men in Numbers report, for which researchers from the platform collected data from a range of sources to find the average age that men around the world hit significant events in their lifetime.
Also tracked in the report was the average age that men lose their virginity.
Men in Iceland were sexually active youngest, with an average of 15.6 years, followed by Denmark at 16.1 years and Sweden at 16.2.
The UK was one year above the global average at 18.3 years – while as you can see from the chart below, the average age men in China, India and Malaysia first have sex is well into their twenties, which just goes to show there’s really no rush with these things.
