54
The number of times per year the average American adult had sex between 2010 and 2014—a decrease from 60 between 1989 and 1994, according to an analysis of data from the annual General Social Survey, a representative sample of 26,620 U.S. adults.*
56
The average number of times that married adults had sex per year between 2010 and 2014, a decrease from 67 between 1989 and 1994. Unmarried adults, on the other hand, saw a slight increase from 50 to 51 times per year during those decades. Also during those years, the percentage of U.S. adults over 18 who were married declined from 58 percent to 50 percent.
6
The number of times fewer per year that a person born in the 1990s (Millennial) has sex compared with a person born in the 1930s (Silent Generation), after controlling for age and time period, according to the analysis. That's partially because of a decline in marriage rates (married people generally have more sex) but also partially because of a decline in married couples' sex frequency, the researchers find.
70+
The age group that saw an increase in sex frequency. Adults over age 70 had sex 11 times per year, on average, between 2010 and 2014, compared with 10 times a year from 1989 to 1994.
*Heterosexual respondents made up 96 percent (by identity) and 91 percent (by behavior) of the survey sample in 2014.
Source: Twenge, J.M., Sherman, R.A., & Wells, B.E. Archives of Sexual Behavior (2017)
