Young people in Europe use condoms less frequently

WHO: Young people in Europe use condoms less frequently Keystone-SDA

Young people in Europe have used condoms much less frequently in recent years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Switzerland, however, bucked the trend.

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The rate of unprotected sex is “worryingly high”, WHO Europe said on Thursday. This exposes young people to a “significant risk of sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies”.

The data comes from a survey of 242,000 15-year-olds in 42 of the 53 countries in the WHO European Region, including Central Asia. According to the data, it shows that the proportion of sexually active boys who used a condom the last time they had sex fell from 70% in 2014 to 61% in 2022. For girls, the figure fell from 63% to 57%.

+ Fifty years of contraception

Almost a third of young people stated that they had not used a condom or the pill the last time they had sex. This is roughly the same as in 2018. Use of the pill remained fairly stable in 2022 compared to 2014; 26% of 15-year-olds stated that they had used it the last time they had sex.

Condom use in Switzerland

At the time of the survey in 2022, around 22% of 15-year-old males in Switzerland did not use a condom during their last sexual intercourse.

Switzerland was among those countries where this contraceptive was used more frequently. In Sweden, on the other hand, 43% stated that they had not used a condom.

Among girls of the same age in Switzerland, 28% did not use a condom during their last sexual intercourse; 77% of girls of this age also stated that they did not use a contraceptive pill.

WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge criticised the fact that age-appropriate comprehensive sex education continues to be neglected in many countries. According to the WHO, inadequate sex education not only leads to higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies, but also to higher healthcare costs and impaired educational and career paths for young people.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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