Women on average have more sex partners than men in 11 Indian states and UTs but the percentage of men who had sexual intercourse with someone who was neither their spouse nor lived-in with, stood at 4 per cent, much higher than that of women at 0.5 per cent, according to the latest NFHS data.
The National Family Health Survey-5 conducted during 2019-21 surveyed 707 districts of the country from 28 States and eight UTs. The survey was predominantly taken up to measure the pervasiveness of higher-risk sexual intercourse and condom usage during such sex, as low condom usage could generally put people at greater risk of HIV/AIDS.
The survey, conducted among 1.1 lakh women and 1 lakh men, reported that the number of sex partners on average for women was higher than men in many states and Union territories. A marginally larger share of rural women than urban women and those currently married than of those never married, divorced, widowed, or separated said they had sex with two or more partners in the 12 months preceding the survey.
However, according to the NFHS data, a larger population of men (4%) had sexual intercourse with those who were neither their spouses nor those with whom they lived-in with in the 12 months before the survey.
These states and UTs are Rajasthan, Haryana, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, and Tamil Nadu. Rajasthan had the highest number of women who had on an average 3.1 sex partners as against the 1.8 for men.
The National Report also provides data categorised into socio-economic and other background characteristics, useful for policy formulation and effective programme implementation.
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