Staggering Statistics

Call To Action

Fewer children are growing up with happily married parents today than one generation ago. From 1973 to 1976, 51% of children under the age of 18 were living in a household in which the parents’ marriage was rated as “very happy.” From 1997 to 2002, only 37% were so fortunate.

~ Source: The National Marriage Project

The Average age of first intercourse for males is 16.9 years and 17.4 years for females.

~ Sources: Kinsey Institute; California State University

Up to 20% of couples now report having sex no more than 10 times a year, qualifying them for what experts call “sexless marriages”

~ Source: The New York Times

* 20 to 30 percent of men and 30 to 50 percent of women say they have little or no sex drive.
* 25 percent of all Americans (a third of women and a fifth of men) suffer from a condition known as hypoactive sexual desire (HSD), which is defined as a persistent or recurring deficiency or absence of sexual fantasies or thoughts, or a lack of interest in sex or being sexual.

~ Source: USA Today/Psychology Today

* 54% of men think about sex everyday or several times a day, 43% a few times per month or a few times per week, and 4% less than once a month

* 19% of women think about sex everyday or several times a day, 67% a few times per month or a few times per week, and 14% less than once a month.

~ Source: The Kisney Institute

About one out of 10 married adults -- 12 percent -- say that they typically sleep alone.

~ Source: National Sleep Foundation

While 75 percent of men always reach orgasm during sex, only 29 percent of women report the same. In addition, most women are unable to climax through vaginal intercourse, instead needing clitoral stimulation.

~ Source: National Health and Social Life Survey

Two-thirds of college students have been in a "friends with benefits" relationship, citing the lack of commitment required as the main advantage to such an arrangement. More than half of those who had sex with a friend said they had engaged in all forms of sex; 22.7 percent said they had intercourse only, while 8 percent said they did everything but have intercourse.

~ Source: Wayne State University and Michigan State University

According to a survey of adults aged 20 to 59, women have an average of four sex partners during their lifetime; men have an average of seven.

~ Source: National Center for Health Statistics

At least 50 percent of sexually active men and women will have a genital HPV infection at some point in their lives. HPV, or human papillomavirus, comes in both low- and high-risk forms; low-risk HPV can cause genital warts, and high-risk can cause cervical and other cancers.

Gardasil only covers 4 of 40 strains of genital HPV

~ Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

* 45% of those taking the survey reported having a one night stand.
* Married couples make love 98 times per year.
* Couples living together report having sex 146 times per year.
* Single folks are having sex the least at 49 times a year.

~ Source: Durex Survey (2001)

* 1/2 of teens ages 13-19 have had oral sex
* 24% of teens consider anal sex as abstinent behavior
* 50% of teens do not consider oral sex as actual sex
* 1 in 10 kids loose their virginity before the age of 13

~ Source: US News and World Report

Sex within marriage has been shown to contribute to a longer life and a healthier life.

~ Source: Discovery Health

* Teenage girls who have sex are 2x more likely to commit suicide than girls who practice abstinence.
* Teenage boys who have sex are 7x more likely to commit suicide than boys who are sexually abstinent.
* Girls who have abortions are 6x more likely to commit suicide than those who don't.

~ Source: Point of View, December 2004

Half of unmarried men ages 20-29 said they would have sex without any interest in marriage.

~ Source: The National Marriage Project, 2002

* Cohabitating couples have twice the breakup rate of married couples.
* More than 2/3 of married couples in the US say they lived together before marriage.
* 36 percent of adults view sex between unmarried people morally wrong
* Studies show that children raised by cohabiting parents have more school and emotional problems.

~ Source: USA Today

60 percent of adults believe it is ‘morally acceptable’ to cohabitate, while 50% of born-again Christians believe it is ‘morally acceptable’ to cohabitate.

~ Source: Barna Research Group

According to the 2000 census, the number of unmarried couples living together has increased tenfold between 1960 and 2000, and 72 percent between 1990 and 2000.

~ Source: Christianity Today

Married couples with children make up just 24% of households in 2000, down from 40% in 1970, and expected to sink to 20% by 2010.

~ Source: The Gallup Organization

Five percent of pastors and 14% or laity have committed adultery. The primary reason was marital dissatisfaction.

~ Source: Christianity Today

36 percent of unmarried men agree that ‘single men have better sex lives than married men.

~ Source: USA Today

* Seventy-one percent of pastors and 49% of laity would like their sexual intimacy to be more frequent.

* Nearly 9 in 10 pastors are counseling a parishioner on sexual issues once a year or more.

~ Source: Christianity Today

Contrary to the popular belief that married sex is boring and infrequent, married people report higher levels of sexual satisfaction than both sexually active singles and cohabiting couples, according to the most comprehensive and recent survey of sexuality. Forty-two percent of wives said that they found sex extremely emotionally and physically satisfying, compared to just 31 percent of single women who had a sex partner. And 48 percent of husbands said sex was extremely satisfying emotionally, compared to just 37 percent of cohabiting men. The higher level of commitment in marriage is probably the reason for the high level of reported sexual satisfaction; marital commitment contributes to a greater sense of trust and security, less drug and alcohol-infused sex, and more mutual communication between the couple.

~ Source: The National Marriage Project

According to one study the divorce risk nearly triples if one marries someone who also comes from a broken home. The increased risk is much lower, however, if the marital partner is someone who grew up in a happy, intact family.

~ Source: The National Marriage Project

Although the overall divorce rate in America remains close to fifty percent of all marriages, it has been dropping gradually over the past two decades. Also, the risk of divorce is far below fifty percent for educated people going into their first marriage, and lower still for people who wait to marry at least until their mid-twenties, haven't lived with many different partners prior to marriage, or are strongly religious and marry someone of the same faith.

~ Source: The National Marriage Project

Married people are a good bit happier (43% very happy) than unmarrieds (24% very happy) and this has been a consistent finding over the years. It holds up for men as well as for women, and for the old as well as the young.

~ Source: Pew Research Center

50% of first marriages ended in divorce and 60% of remarriages end in divorce. But, the Center for Disease Control also found that 96% of Americans express a personal desire for marriage, and almost three-quarters of Americans believe marriage is a life long commitment.

~ Source: Center for Disease Control's National Vital Statistics Report of 2002

Reasons Couples Give For Divorce

According to the 2004 data, one of the new reasons are family strains, which account for 18 per cent of the divorce. Emotional and physical abuse account for 17 per cent of the divorces. Similarly, mid-life crisis accounts for 13 per cent of the divorces. Addictions to alcoholism and gambling accounts for 6 per cent of the divorce. Addiction to work accounts for 6 per cent of the divorce. Extramarital affairs continues to top the list. It accounts for 27 per cent of marriages ending in divorce.

~ Source: US Census Bureau

Survey of Divorced Men: Why did you and your wife split up?

She was unfaithful 22%
We grew apart 21%
We fell out of love 16%
We argued constantly 13%
No longer sexually attracted 5%
I was unfaithful 3%
Other 20%

~ Source: Men's Health Magazine