Condoms are becoming less and less popular among teenagers. Between 2014 and 2022, the proportion of 15 year olds who used a condom during their last sexual encounter fell from 70% to 61% among boys and from 63% to 57% among girls. This data, published August 29 in a report by the European branch of the World Health Organization (WHO), comes from a vast study carried out every four years since 1982 in some 40 countries in Europe and Central Asia, as well as in Canada. For this edition, researchers focused their questions on the sexual health of 15-year-old adolescents.

The initial results confirm data already observed in previous studies, particularly in the US and in Europe, which showed that the first time having sex happens later among today's teenagers than in those of previous generations. This is a trend that was observed before 2018 that may have intensified since the Covid-19 pandemic and the social distancing measures associated with it.

It is also particularly the case for boys in a dozen or so countries, with Albania, Armenia, France and Greece leading the way. Conversely, there has been no overall change among girls, apart from more sexually active girls in France, Luxembourg and Spain. In the 40 or so countries studied, 20% of 15-year-old boys said they had already had sexual intercourse, compared with 15% of girls. In France, the figures are 16% and 14% respectively.

Were these sexual encounters protected? All 15-year-old respondents reporting sexual activity were asked whether they or their partner had used a condom the last time they had sex. A third of teenagers (30% of boys and 36% of girls) answered no. Rates ranged from 14% in Armenia to 52% in the UK for boys, and from 14% in Serbia to 68% in Sweden for girls.

In addition, 9% of boys and 7% of girls didn't know if they'd used a condom. Among the latter, the figures range from 0.5% in Italy and the UK to 38% in Kyrgyzstan. That may be linked to teenagers having sex under the influence of alcohol, psychoactive substances, stealthing (condom removal during sex without the recipient's consent) or unwanted or non-consensual sex, say the report's authors.

Furthermore, contraceptive pill use appears to be stable over time in this age group, with 68% of girls reporting not being on it when they last had sex. Finally, just under a third of teenagers (30% of boys and 31% of girls) have used neither condom nor contraceptive pill, a rate that has been stable since 2018.

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