“Significant gaps in sex education”: European adolescents using condoms less, WHO warns

Le préservatif boudé ? Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

L’Organisation mondiale de la santé a interrogé 242 000 jeunes. La proportion d’adolescents sexuellement actifs déclarant avoir utilisé un préservatif lors de leur dernier rapport sexuel a nettement diminué en quelques années.

European adolescents are using condoms less and less, which increases the risks of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unwanted pregnancies, warns the World Health Organization (WHO), in a report published on Thursday, August 29.

According to this study, carried out among 242,000 15-year-olds, the proportion of sexually active adolescents reporting having used a condom during their last sexual intercourse fell, between 2014 and 2022, from 70% to 61% for boys and from 63% for 57% for girls.

According to social background

Unprotected sex is more common (33%) among young people from low-income families than in privileged backgrounds (25%).

The WHO sees this, in particular, as the effect of “significant gaps in age-appropriate sex education, as well as in access to methods contraceptives”.

Free in France

In France, condoms, available free of charge in pharmacies for 18-25 year olds and minors, are still widely used by young people during their first sexual intercourse.