In fact, in many states and UT, women have had more sexual partners in their lives on average than men. These include Rajasthan, Haryana, J&K and MP in northern and central India, Assam in the east and Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the south. The data also show that rural women have had more sexual partners on average over their lifetime (1.8) than their urban counterparts and the same has been the case among men.
However, a much greater percentage of men (3.6%) than women (0.5%) had had sexual intercourse with someone who was neither a spouse nor a person they lived with in the 12 months prior to the survey.
The data was collected as part of an attempt to measure the prevalence of higher-risk sexual intercourse and condom use during that sex, as low condom use could expose people to a higher risk of HIV / AIDS.
Respondents included nearly 1.1 lakh of women and 1 lakh of men. While it is difficult to imagine that all respondents are entirely frank about their sexual relationships, the mere fact that so many, particularly women, were willing to talk about sexual partners, including sex outside of marriage, is significant. While there may be an underestimation among women, in the case of men there may also be a touch of pious exaggeration in some cases.
The survey also covered the percentage of women who have had sex with two or more partners in the past 12 months. A slightly higher percentage of rural women than urban women and currently married women than those never married, divorced, widowed or separated reported having had sex with two or more partners in the 12 months prior to the survey.
Overall, the data indicated that men were much more interested in high-risk sex, and the percentage reporting condom use during such high-risk sex was only slightly higher than the percentage of women reporting the same.
Hindu men had the highest average number of lifelong sexual partners (2.2), followed by Christians and Sikhs (1.7), while Jains had the lowest value (1.1). But the communities with the highest percentage of men who reported having sex with more than one partner in the previous 12 months were Buddhists / Neo-Buddhists and Sikhs, while Jains and Muslims had the lowest proportion.
Among people who have had sex in the past 12 months, women and men who have never married were more likely than those currently married or previously married to report having had sex with a person who was neither theirs. spouse nor lived with them.
