The over-75s in the Netherlands have an active sex life

Research by Statistics Netherlands, together with RIVM, Rutgers and Soa Aids Nederland, shows that the proportion of Dutch people aged 16 or older who died in the past year sex has decreased from 74 percent in 2014 to 70 percent in 2022.

The decrease was particularly noticeable among young people aged 16 to 25, from 63 percent in 2014 to 56 percent in 2022. Remarkably enough, the proportion that was sexually active increased among the over-75s, from 16 percent in 2014 to 27 percent in 2022 .

Sexual activity is strongly related to the age of the respondents. For example, the proportion of sexually active persons was highest among 25 to 45-year-olds at 87 percent. The percentage of people who are sexually active decreases from the age of 55 and is lowest among the over-75s at 27 percent.

Older men

Older men are generally more sexually active than older women, with the difference increasing with age. For example, 75 percent of men aged 37 or older were sexually active in the past year, while this percentage was 18 percent for women of the same age. This is because older women are more often single, because men are often somewhat older in a relationship and women have a higher life expectancy.

People who live with a partner are generally more sexually active than people who live without a partner. For example, of the over-75s who did not live with a partner, only 8 percent had sexual contact in the past year, while this percentage was 41 percent among peers living together. The proportion of singles who were sexually active was particularly low among women.

No answer

None of the participants had to answer the question about their sexual activity. It was striking that almost a quarter of the over-75s chose not to answer this question. Women from the age of 45 also more often did not want to answer this question than men of the same age group.

Source: CBS

And what about your sex life? Active or on the back burner?