The majority of Brits had sex for the first time before the age of 20, according to a new survey by YouGov. 

Of the 4,006 Brits aged 18 to 60+ who were asked when they lost their virginity, 6% said they hadn’t yet had sex, 10% couldn’t remember and 22% declined to answer.

Of those remaining, the median age at which they lost their V card was 17.

In fact, half of British people said they had sex for the first time between the ages of 16 and 18, while 19% admitted to doing it before the age of consent (16).

Almost one in five had done the deed before they turned 20, while 5% had sex for the first time aged 25 or older. 

In general, women seem to have sex earlier than men. 

More women (82%) than men (73%) had sex for the first time before they turned 20 and the median age for men to lose their virginity is 18, while for women it’s 17. 

Plus, women are much more likely than men to have first had sex at 16 (21% vs 13%).

While the results are pretty varied generally, there’s a clear difference between generations, which isn’t exactly surprising.

One in five Brits aged under 40 said they’d lost their virginity before the age of 16, compared with just 14% of those aged 60 and over. 

At the end of the day, the age at which you decide to have sex for the first time is completely personal, and – as long as everybody involved is a consenting adult – it doesn’t really matter.

In fact, increasingly sex educators and commentators argue that the concept of ‘losing your virginity’ is completely outdated anyway: rather than a scientific or medical phenomenon, virginity itself is a myth that stems from a time when people believed that penetration could change a woman forever (spoiler: it usually doesn’t). 

Writer Rebecca Reid also previously pointed out that ‘loss’ is a ‘bit of a poisonous term’.

‘The word ‘loss’ is negative, it has connotations of bereavement, failing and being deprived of something you want,’ she said. ‘None of those things should describe the experience of having sex for the first time.’

Don’t feel pressured to conform to the norm – as long as you have sex when you’re ready, you’re golden.

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