City teens now have their first sexual encounter at the age of 14, reveals new survey

Sex has always been a taboo in India and there has been a long-drawn debate on the need for sex education. However, new data derived from a survey might just re-ignite the debate on sex education.

According to a report in Times of India , a survey in cities concluded that the average age of first sexual contact for boys was 13.72 years and 14.09 years for girls.

The survey based on interviews of over 15,000 teens aged between 13 to 19 from 20 cities also revealed that “8.9 percent of the survey-takers gave a history indicative of sexually transmitted infection at least once”, another report said .

“Among those surveyed, over 6.3% boys and over 1.3% girls reported to have had intercourse at least once. The average age at first intercourse in those who had it was 14 years for boys and 16 years for girls,” the TOI report quoted Dr Debraj Shome of MediAngels.com, a city-based e-healthcare company funded by the Union Department of Science and Technology, which conducted the survey, as saying.

The numbers suggest that urban youth are exposed to sexual encounters at an early age and with the absence of proper sex education, necessary to familiarise teens with necessary precautions, STDs seem to be on the rise at an early age.