According to data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), Among Indians who have sex, more than 90% had their first sexual intercourse before reaching the age of 30 .
Men are mostly likely to have had their first sexual intercourse at the age of 20-24, the data shows. For women, the peak age at first sex is lower at 15-19.
The difference between the genders is primarily on account of the difference in the ages at which they tend to get married. Most sexual encounters in India tend to be of the conjugal kind, the data suggests. Thus, women tend to have sex at an earlier age because they get married at a younger age.
However, there are important differences across people with different educational attainments. People with higher levels of education tend to stay in college longer, and hence get married later. The age at first intercourse for such people therefore tends to be later. As the chart shows, the curves shift right-wards for both men and women when their educational attainment goes up.
