Statistics on Virginity Loss

Dear Sexperts,

I am curious if there are statistics on the loss of virginity at various age groups. I am a 22 year old virgin and am simply curious how many of my peers are also virgins. I believe I read a statistic that stated that by the age of 19, 80% of people had lost their virginity.

Answer:

The majority of studies that have been conducted were investigating the numbers of sexually active teenagers, probably due to societal concerns about teenage pregnancy. As a result, finding statistics about sexual activity beyond the teenage years is not an easy task. The few studies that exist only address vaginal-penile sex. For our purposes, then, we will have to define a loss of virginity as engaging in vaginal sex.

One study by the NHSLS, part of which was published in a book by Laumann et al, found that 6.2% of women and 10.8% of men aged 18 to 24 had not engaged in vaginal intercourse. Another study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that 88.6% of women ages 20-24 had engaged in vaginal sex, leaving 11.4% as 'virgins.' In women aged 25-29, the percentage of virgins dropped to 4.1%. (See http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_23/sr23_019.pdf#table%2023 for more statistics from this study). Unfortunately, this study did not investigate the sexual behaviors of men.

As you can see, the studies are not overly helpful when trying to determine actual percentages. Rest assured, however, that many men and women in your age group are also virgins.

Sincerely,
The Sexperts