March 11, 2013. Kiev. Almost 5% (4,9%) of Ukrainians aged 18 and older have never tried sex. 95,1% of population of Ukraine has already had sexual relations.

These are results of survey, conducted by Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) according to the request by “Ukraine today” enterprise.

The study was conducted during the period of February 8–20, 2013, in 110 locations in all regions of Ukraine and Crimea. 2032 respondents were interviewed; sample was random and representative for the population of Ukraine aged 18 years and older. Statistical sampling deviation (with probability 0.95 and the design-effect 1.5) does not exceed 3.3%.

According to the study results, 44% of the population of Ukraine considersex to be an important part in their lives. 17% of them think sex plays a very important role in their lives. A little more than 16% of Ukrainian believesex to be something unimportant. Approximately 9% of respondents said that they did not think sex is important.

Love life is more important fornUkrainian men than for women. Sex is considered to be important part of life by 55% of men and only by 34% of women. Sex relations are totally unimportant for 9% of men and 22% women.

About a third part of respondents refused to answer the question about their first sexual experience. 7% of respondents started their sexual life in the juvenile age (12–15 years);majority of respondents started their love experience at the age of 16–18 years (42%); another 29% of respondents — in the next three years. Thus, at the age of 21, 92% of people have had sexual experience.

53% of study participants have had sexual relations during the last 30 days before the survey. Number of sex contacts significantly varies: 15% of those who responded had 1-2 contacts; nearly the same number of respondents had 3–4, 5–7, 8–10 and 11–15 contacts (about 9–11%). More than a quarter of respondents — 26% — reported that they had not had sex during this period.

Almost half of Ukrainians (54%) had only one sex partner during the last year. Only 2.5% of respondents reported having had an intimate contact with more than one person during the beforementioned period. In the vast majority of these people (almost 2/3 of 2.5%) had 2 partners in the past year.

• The resulting sexual portrait of Ukrainiansis more about what it should look out according to the beliefs of Ukrainians, but not about what it really is — says Natalia Ishchenko, co-founder of "Ukraine Today". — The conducted studyrevealed pattern of sexual behavior that is acceptable in the modern Ukrainian society. The components of this model are denial of sex in early adolescence, a declaration of commitment to monogamy and meretricious lack of interest in sex among women.
• Unlike research traditions in the U.S. and Europe, which are greatly influenced by works of Sigmund Freud and his followers,Ukraine does not pay much attention to studying its sexuality. While the U.S. have representative studies of American sexuality since Alfred Kinsey has conducted his first ones in the 40s, and since then they have been being conducted more or less regularly, we practically do not have representative studies of sexual behavior of Ukrainians. Therefore, the study, which was initiated by "Ukraine Today", is of some importance for the understanding of the general state of Ukrainian society,in spite of some limitations of this study, — said Vladimir Paniotto, CEO of the Kiev International Institute of Sociology.

Reference

Vladimir Paniotto — a sociologist, Ph.D., CEO of the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, Professor of Sociology, University of "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy".

Natalia Ishchenko (Gumba) — Perception ManagementSpecialist, co-founder of "Ukraine Today", which specializes in consulting and media projects. Author of popular science book in social psychology "Truth about human being" (2012).

Application

Questions from inventory and some tables

1. Please tell us if you have ever had any sexual contacts?

2. How important sex is in your life?

3. How old were you when you first had sex?

4. Have you had sexual relation in the last 30 days?

5. How many times you had sex in the past 30 days?

6.1. How many sexual partners haveyou had in the last 12 months?

6.2. Ifyou had more than one sexual partner, how many partners have you had in the past 12 months?