We used to think the “sexual recession” was primarily linked to the rise in the number of singles—often in their thirties—who swipe more than they kiss, stuck between Netflix and a six-inch screen. But that’s not the whole story. The decline in sex has crossed the threshold of the marital bedroom—and it didn’t even wipe its feet… That’s what this Ifop/Passage du désir survey—conducted in both France (2,000 French women) and the wealthiest countries (3,600 women from the G7)—reveals. The “sexless” couple—a relationship model long associated with Japan—is no longer unique to the Japanese archipelago; it’s a global phenomenon whose scale varies by region. But the most troubling aspect isn’t the abstinence itself; it’s the serenity with which it is experienced: a large proportion of women say they are happy in love. Yet while the relationship may hold, desire does not. A portrait of these women who separate love from sex—and are doing quite well for themselves as a result. The men, on the other hand, not so much.
Key figures:
A) THE SEX RECESSION: A GLOBAL TREND, PARTICULARLY STRONG IN JAPAN
1 – More than half of women living in the wealthy G7 countries do not have sex (52%), but this lack of sexual activity does not affect only single women looking for a partner. In these countries, nearly one in three women in a relationship (31%) admits to not having sex with her partner.
2 – Japan ranks far ahead at the top of the list of wealthy countries with the lowest levels of sexual activity: 66% of Japanese women in relationships do not have sex with their partners— arate far higher than that recorded in Italy (18%), Germany (24%), or the United States (28%).
B) THE SEX RECESSION: A PHENOMENON THAT ALSO GREATLY AFFECTS COUPLES
3 – In France, one in four women (26%) admits to being sexually inactive even though she is in a relationship. And while this sexual inactivity is high among “long-term” couples (55% among those aged 65 and older), it is far from rare among younger women (e.g., 16% of those aged 25–34).
4 – Only two-thirds (66%) of women in relationships have had sex at least once in the past month, including 41% who have had sex at least once this week. Conversely, one in four women in a relationship reports that she currently has sex less than once a month (25%), and one in ten refuses to answer (9%).
5 – The feeling that sexual activity has decreased compared to the beginning of the relationship is overwhelmingly prevalent: 77% of French women in relationships have sex less often than they did at the start of their relationship, a proportion that rises to 87% among couples who have been together for more than twenty years.
C) WHILE IT DOESN’T ALWAYS CALL ROMANTIC FEELINGS INTO QUESTION, THE ABSENCE OF SEX IS OFTEN A SIGN OF A LACK OF ATTRACTION TOWARD ONE’S PARTNER
6 – The absence of sexual activity appears to be closely linked to a decline in physical desire or romantic feelings toward one’s partner. Thus, a significant number of women who are sexually inactive are those who are no longer truly in love with their partner (64%) or who do not feel sexual desire for him (67%).
7 – The absence of intercourse does not necessarily mean a complete lack of a marital sex life. One-third of sexually inactive women in relationships (32%) have nonetheless experienced moments of sexual intimacy without penetration with their partner in the past 12 months (mutual caressing, oral sex, etc.).
8 – But for many others, the lack of intercourse appears to reflect sexual dissatisfaction. Over the past 12 months, four in ten (41%) preferred to masturbate rather than have intercourse with their current partner, particularly among women who are sexually dissatisfied with their partner (65%).
D) … BUT THIS DOES NOT NECESSARILY CALL INTO QUESTION THE EMOTIONAL BOND WITHIN THE COUPLE
9 – The absence of sex does not necessarily prevent emotional fulfillment within the couple— 63% of French women who do not have sex with their partner are satisfied with their current romantic life —even though this level of fulfillment is higher among women in relationships who are sexually active (91%).
10 – It is true that many of these women who are sexually inactive while in a relationship believe that sexuality is not important for happiness in love (44%), in a context where the importance placed on sexuality is steadily declining (68% in 2026, compared to 81% in 2005).
11 – Among the factors likely to increase sexual activity within a marriage, these women cite, above all, more tenderness and attention (67%) and better physical fitness (63%), but also the need for their partner to make “more effort to be attractive” (50%).
12 – One in two French women in a relationship (46%) also sees sex toys as a way to increase the desire to have sex, particularly the youngest women (62% of those under 25), those with a strong libido (63%), strong feminists (62%), and those with same-sex partners (70%).
| François Kraus’s overall take on the study: | ||
| Japan, as a counter-model, holds up a magnifying mirror to the sexual recession awaiting the aging societies of wealthy nations. In a context where sexuality plays an increasingly minor role in women’s definition of romantic happiness, and where the end of “marital duty” is now enshrined even in case law, the sexless couple is set to become an increasingly less shameful form of marriage. Still, couples’ silence about their sexuality may be the first step toward ensuring that this abstinence is chosen rather than endured… For this marital abstinence has two sides. For some women (often older women or those facing health issues), it represents a relatively peaceful and accepted “post-sex” phase that hardly diminishes emotional fulfillment. But for others, abstinence tells a different story—a partner who is no longer attractive, pleasure that is now experienced alone, and that request one dares to voice only to a pollster: “Let him make an effort to be attractive.” After centuries of being told to stay beautiful, the expectation to be desirable now applies exclusively to women.
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| Patrick Pruvot’s overall take on the study: | ||
| “This study confirms what we’ve been observing for twenty years: it’s possible to continue loving each other even while desiring each other less. 77% of French women in relationships have sex less often than they did at the beginning of their relationship. This is the result of routine—not an inevitability. And women know what could reignite their desire: more tender gestures and attention (76%), more open communication about their desires (65%), and more time together (62%). Sexuality isn’t a separate realm; it reflects the couple’s entire life together. That’s the essence of a sustainable relationship: games and accessories are only valuable if they help the couple reconnect. This is also true after age 50: a changing sex life isn’t a sex life that comes to a halt. It can become slower, more sensual, and less focused on performance. Our role is to help couples choose their intimacy rather than simply endure it.”
— Patrick Pruvot, founder of Passage du Désir |
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TO CITE THIS STUDY, YOU MUST USE AT LEAST THE FOLLOWING WORDING:
“An Ifop study for Passage du Désir conducted via a self-administered online questionnaire from August 19 to 24, 2026, among a representative national sample of 1,947 French women aged 18 and older, including 1,240 women in relationships.”
- A) THE SEX RECESSION: A GLOBAL TREND THAT DOES NOT SPARE COUPLES, ESPECIALLY IN JAPAN
Documented over the past decade by major national surveys—in the United States (General Social Survey), the United Kingdom (Natsal), Germany, and France (CSF)—the decline in sexual activity has all too often been viewed solely through the lens of youth and singlehood[1]. And while several surveys have already shown that couples are not spared this trend, the comparative component of this survey—conducted in the seven G7 countries among 3,607 women—allows us, for the first time, to fully assess the extent of the phenomenon using a methodology that is strictly identical across all countries.
🇫🇷 In France, the 2023 CSF survey[2] confirmed a decline in sexual activity among women in relationships over the past 12 months, but more importantly, a sharp decrease in the frequency of their sexual encounters during the month: the average number of sexual encounters over the past 4 weeks fell from 8.6 in 2006 to 6.0 in 2023 among women aged 18–69 who were sexually active over the past 12 months and who were living with a partner or had a primary partner.
🇺🇸 In the United States, data from the General Social Survey—based on a representative sample of 26,620 American adults—showed that the sharpest decline in the frequency of sexual intercourse affected couples in stable relationships: married couples had an average of 55 sexual encounters per year in 2014, compared to 73 in 1990. Married or cohabiting Americans reportedly had 16 fewer sexual encounters per year between the early 2000s and the mid-2010s[3].
🇯🇵 In Japan, sexual inactivity also appears to have increased, according to studies of married heterosexual couples. In the 2020 Japan Sex Survey (online), 52% of married men and women aged 20–49 were sexually inactive. In the eight national surveys on lifestyles and attitudes toward sexuality (2002–2016), the proportion of 20- to 39-year-olds with no interest in sex rose from 24% to 41% among women (AJPF 2003–2017).
1 – In G7 countries, nearly one in three women in a relationship does not have sex—or no longer has sex—with her partner
👉 When asked about their “marital” status, more than half (52%) of women living in a G7 country admit that they are not currently having sex: 33% because they are single and without a partner, but also 19% because they are in a relationship without having—or no longer having—sex with their partner. When considering only women in relationships, this proportion of women living in “sexless relationships” rises to 31%.
🔎 Unsurprisingly, this marital abstinence is primarily a matter of age: it affects only 10% of women in relationships aged 18 to 24, compared to 58% of those aged 65 and older. But it also follows a marked social gradient —11% among women in the upper socioeconomic categories, compared with 29% in the working-class categories—and is more common among women who describe themselves as conservative (36%, compared with 28% of progressives) or “not at all feminist ” (35%, compared to 18% of “very feminist” women).
It therefore appearsas though the “sexless” relationship is less a result of emancipated women asserting their sexual autonomy than of more traditional social circles, where the relationship persists despite the disappearance of its physical dimension —an observation that must, however, be interpreted in light of the age distribution within these categories.
2 – Japan, the archetype of the “sexless” couple: two out of three Japanese women in relationships do not have—or no longer have—sex with their partners
👉 Behind this average, however, lie significant national disparities. With 66% of women in relationships no longer having sex, Japan stands out very clearly from the other G7 countries. In second place, the United States has more than one in four “sexless” couples (28%), followed by Canada (27%), where the average is driven up by the English-speaking provinces: women in Quebec, meanwhile, fall well below that figure (20%). Germany (24%), France (26%), and the United Kingdom (25%) are all in the same range, while Italy (18%) stands out as a Latin exception[4].
👉 These figures confirm—and underscore—what local surveys have been documenting for twenty years under the term “sexless”: as early as 2016, the Japanese Family Planning Association estimated that nearly one in two married couples (47%) had not had sex in over a month, compared to less than one-third (32%) in 2004[5]. While marital abstinence peaks among women aged 65 and older (91%), it already affects 50% of Japanese women in relationships aged 35 to 49 and 56% of those aged 50 to 64, as well as 79% of economically inactive women (e.g., homemakers).
These are all indicators of a phenomenon that many observers attribute to a highly gendered division of labor in married life and work hours that are among the longest in developed countries, but also to the difficulties couples face in communicating about their sexual needs or resuming sexual activity after childbirth (Pacher, 2022).
🧐 The perspective of François Kraus of Ifop: An aging population, longer-lasting relationships, competition from screens and digital entertainment, and a greater emphasis on tenderness at the expense of passion—the ingredients of the Japanese “sexless” relationship are present, to varying degrees, in all societies of wealthy countries. If we set aside the archipelago’s unique cultural characteristics, the Japanese “model” of the sexless couple thus appears less as an exception than as the most fully developed form of a trend at work across all wealthy nations.
- B) A PHENOMENON THAT GOES BEYOND THE COOLING OF RELATIONSHIPS AMONG SINGLE PEOPLE: THE COUPLE, ANOTHER FOCUS OF THE SEXUAL RECESSION
In France, the main section of the survey confirms that the couple is no longer the sanctuary of sexual activity described in surveys from the 1990s and 2000s: regardless of the indicator used—current situation, frequency of intercourse, changes since the start of the relationship—a significant proportion of women in relationships today experience reduced or even nonexistent sexual activity within their marriages.
3 – In France, one in four women in a relationship admits to being sexually inactive
👉 When surveyed in the same way as their counterparts in the G7, 47% of French women are not currently having sex: 31% are single without a partner, and 16% are in a relationship but do not have—or no longer have—sex with their partner. When considering only women in relationships, this marital abstinence affects about one in four French women (26%).
🔎 Once again, age and the length of the relationship are the primary factors: sexual inactivity affects 55% of women in relationships who are 65 and older (compared to 11% of those aged 18–24) and 36% of women who have been in a relationship for more than twenty years (compared to 13% of those who have been in a relationship for less than a year). A generational analysis is equally revealing: while only 8% of Gen Z women report being in a relationship without sexual intercourse, this proportion rises to 24% among Baby Boomers and 35% among the Silent Generation. But this abstinence is far from marginal among women who are young in life or in their relationships: 16% of 25- to 34-year-olds in a relationship and 13% of women who have been in a relationship for less than a year are already in this situation. There is also a higher proportion of women who describe themselves as very conservative (35%, compared to 22% of those who are very progressive) and practicing Catholics (36%, compared to 20% of those with no religious affiliation).
4 – One-third of women in relationships have not had sex in the past month, and one in four has sex less than once a month—or not at all
👉 An analysis of the frequency of sexual intercourse confirms the scale of the phenomenon. When asked about their current frequency of sexual activity, only 41% of French women in relationships have sex at least once a week. Conversely, morethan one in four women in a relationship have not had sex in over a month, with half of them (13%) currently never having sex.
👉 This low frequency of sex within relationships is part of a long-term trend. Compared to a survey conducted in 2005[6], the proportion of women having sex at least once a week has declined by 12 percentage points over twenty years (28% in 2026, compared to 40% in 2005), while the proportion of those who never have sex has increased by 8 percentage points (31%, compared to 23%). Paradoxically, it is the youngest age group that, after seniors, has the highest rate of sexual inactivity: 42% of 18- to 24-year-olds report never having sex, compared to 16% of 25- to 34-year-olds—a form of “sexual fatigue” among young people linked to the decline in romantic partnerships.
5 – An almost inevitable decline in sexual activity over time
👉 The perception of a decline in marital sexuality is, in fact, widely shared: 77% of French women in relationships believe they have sex less often now than at the beginning of their relationship, compared to 16% who say “about the same” and only 7% who say more.
This finding—which must certainly be interpreted with the caution required by any retrospective analysis, given that the beginning of a relationship is often idealized—confirms what the sociology of sexuality has long described: the “routinization” of marital sexuality, in which the passion of the early days gives way to an intimacy built on habits and tenderness[7]. The originality of this survey lies in its demonstration of the extreme outcome of this process: the outright disappearance of sexual relations among a significant proportion of couples.
🧐 François Kraus of Ifop’s perspective: Contrary to the stereotype that pits singles who hop from one partner to another against couples settled into a regular sex life, this study shows that the sexual recession plays out just as much within couples as it does outside them. The couple is no longer that “refuge” for sexual activity, where having a stable partner almost automatically guaranteed a regular sex life. It has become a space where sex is negotiated, becomes scarce, and—for one in four women—disappears altogether—without the couple itself necessarily breaking up.
- C) MARITAL ABSTINENCE, WHICH OFTEN REVEALS SEXUAL DISSATISFACTION AND A LACK OF PHYSICAL ATTRACTION TOWARD ONE’S SPOUSE…
The question remains: what does this marital abstinence actually entail? Is it a peaceful and accepted “post-sex” phase, where tenderness has taken the place of desire, or is it a symptom of a couple that no longer functions sexually? The results suggest a reality with two sides.
6 – The absence of sexual intercourse is correlated with the extinction of desire and romantic feelings for one’s partner
👉 The first finding is that sexual inactivity within a couple goes hand in hand with a weakening of the romantic bond and desire. The proportion of women in relationships who do not have sex—26% on average—rises to 64% among those who are “no longer truly in love” with their partner (compared to 8% of those who say they are in love “just like in the early days”), 67% among those who feel no sexual desire for him (compared to 5% of those who feel “a lot” of desire) and 62% among those who are not sexually satisfied with their partner (compared to 10% of those who are “very satisfied”). It is also nearly three times higher among women who consider their partner “a little less attractive” than they are (36%) than among those who find him “much more attractive” (13%).
7 – When asked about the reasons for this abstinence, women cited above all a decrease in libido—their own, far more than their partner’s
👉 When asked to explain why they are not currently having sex with their partner, women in relationships who are not having sex first cite reasons related to desire and sexuality (36%): a decrease in or lack of libido, which they attribute to themselves (23%) far more than to their partner (5%), but also a lack of attraction, body image issues, or even disgust (4%), or a more general disinterest in sex (4%). “We don’t feel like it anymore,” “Lack of desire,” “Because I was bored to death during sex”: these quotes succinctly convey the extinction of a desire that nothing seems able to rekindle.
Next come health reasons and physical limitations (31%) and aging (17%), which some mention with a sense of resignation (“We’re past that age now, but that doesn’t prevent us from having a happy and harmonious life”). Difficulties specific to the couple’s relationship—conflicts, routine, falling out of love, infidelity—are cited by only 9% of them. A key lesson emerges from this hierarchy of reasons: marital abstinence is less a matter of schedule than of desire; the lack of time or mental load, so often cited, carry far less weight than the erosion of desire itself.
8 – The absence of intercourse does not necessarily mean the disappearance of all marital sexuality
👉 This abstinence from intercourse does not rule out all intimacy: nearly one-third of women in relationships lasting at least one year who are not currently having sex (32%) report having had, over the past 12 months, moments of sexual intimacy without penetration with their partner (caressing, mutual masturbation, oral sex…), including 7% who did so “often”—a proportion that is admittedly half that of all couples (61%), but which shows that, for a minority of them, their sexuality has shifted rather than ceased.
👉 Nor is this marital abstinence accompanied by extramarital sexual activity as a substitute: only 3% of these women had sexual intercourse with someone other than their partner during the year (compared to 6% of all women in relationships) and 5% engaged in flirting or sexually suggestive behavior with a third party (compared to 11%). The “sexless” couple is therefore not an “open” couple: the desire that has faded for the spouse does not, with few exceptions, shift to other partners.
9 – For many, masturbation now takes precedence over sex with their spouse: a sign of sexual dissatisfaction
Nevertheless, for a large proportion of these women, marital abstinence does indeed seem to reflect dissatisfaction with their partner. More than four out of ten women in relationships without sex (41%) report that, in the past 12 months, they have preferred to masturbate rather than have sex with their current partner— asign that self-pleasuring has become a common component of women’s marital sexuality.
🔎 Women who prefer this approach are overrepresented among those dissatisfied with their sexual partner (65%, compared to 29% of those who are “very satisfied”), among those who are no longer truly in love (56%, compared to 34%), or among those who find their partner slightly less attractive than themselves (57%, compared to 47% of those who find him much more attractive). This preference for masturbation is also more common among the youngest women (51% of those aged 18–24), those with the most left-leaning political views (74% on the far left), the most feminist (57% of “very feminist” women), or those who identify as lesbian or bisexual (58%)—all categories for whom sexual pleasure is increasingly seen as independent of a male partner.
🧐 François Kraus of Ifop’s perspective: Driven by the widespread acceptance of sex toys and a feminist discourse that values autonomy in pleasure, the rise of female autoeroticism has an unexpected consequence: it makes marital abstinence more bearable. When pleasure no longer depends on one’s spouse, sexual intercourse with them ceases to be a necessity and becomes an option—one that can be declined without giving up a sex life altogether. Masturbation thus appears less as a complement to marital sexuality than as a substitute form of sexuality.
- D) … BUT THIS DOES NOT NECESSARILY CALL INTO QUESTION THE EMOTIONAL BOND WITHIN THE COUPLE
10 – Abstinence that doesn’t prevent emotional fulfillment: nearly two-thirds of women in relationships without sex remain satisfied with their romantic lives
👉 Does this mean these couples are in crisis? Not necessarily. 63% of women in relationships who do not have sex say they are satisfied with their current emotional life—alevel that is certainly lower than that of women in relationships who do have sex (91%), but significantly higher than that of single women without a partner (49%) and close to that of women in “situationships” (69%). A relationship, even without a sexual component, is therefore not synonymous with romantic dissatisfaction.
🔎 However, the gap with sexually active couples widens when we look at the intensity of this satisfaction: the number of women who are “very satisfied” with their romantic lives is two and a half times lower among couples without sex (18%) than among sexually active couples (46%). Sex does not make the difference between satisfaction and dissatisfaction, but between lukewarm satisfaction and true fulfillment.
11 – This relative indifference to the absence of sex is part of a broader trend of sexual disengagement
👉 When asked about the importance of sexuality for happiness in love, 68% of French women consider it important, compared to 81% in 2005. However, the contrast with men is striking: 83% of men believe that sexuality is important for happiness in love, with 35% calling it “very important”—representinga 17-point gender gap in the strongest response. All of this tends to confirm the hypothesis that the absence of sexual activity challenges female identity less than it does male identity[8].
🔎 This detachment is particularly pronounced among women in relationships without sexual intercourse: 44% of them consider that sexuality is not important for happiness in love, which is twice as many as among sexually active women in relationships (21%). Surprisingly, this trend is also evident among younger people: 33% of those aged 18–24, compared to 22% of those aged 35–49.
🧐 François Kraus of Ifop offers this perspective: It’s hard to say whether this belief is the cause of abstinence—women for whom sex matters little are more likely to go without it—or a rationalization after the fact, akin to cognitive dissonance that leads to devaluing what one no longer has. In any case, it fits into a broader context of the “end of marital duty,” where the absence of sex within a couple is becoming an increasingly accepted reality.
12 – Ways to rekindle desire: more tenderness and better physical fitness above all, but also greater efforts at seduction on the part of the partner
👉 That said, these women are not resigned to their situation. When asked what might increase their desire to have sex with their partner, women in relationships without sex cited, above all, “more tender gestures and daily attention” (67%) and “better physical fitness” (63%), followed by “more communication with their partner about their desires” (56%).
On the other hand, half of them (50%) would find their desire stimulated if their partner made “more effort to be attractive”—afactor they rank higher than spending time together (41%), sharing household chores (37%), or trying new things (30%), whereas working women rank it far behind spending time together (56%, compared to 70%). Finally, it is worth noting that sharing household and family responsibilities—often held up as a prerequisite for female desire—is perceived as a factor by only 45% of women in relationships (37% of those not in the workforce): domestic equality is undoubtedly a necessary condition for desire, but it is not its driving force.
13 – Sex toys: a motivator for one in two women in a relationship, especially among younger women, those with a high libido, feminists, and those with same-sex partners
👉 Finally, nearly one in two French women in a relationship (46%) sees “breaking the routine with sexual games or toys” as a way to increase her desire to have sex (15% “a lot,” 31% “a little”). This openness paints a very distinct profile: that of young women (62% of those aged 18–24, compared to 21% of those aged 65 and older), with a strong sex drive (63%, compared to 33% of those who consider theirs weak), who are strongly feminist (62%, compared to 42% of “non-feminists”), highly progressive (65%, compared to 26% of the very conservative), who have same-sex sexual partners (70%) or are in non-cohabiting relationships (61%, compared to 44% of those living with a partner).
🔎 Sex toys thus appear to be a marker of an “enhanced,” autonomous, and assertive sexuality, far more so than a miracle cure for couples whose sex lives have fizzled out: they appeal to only 31% of women in relationships who aren’t having sex, compared to 51% of sexually active women. It’s as if sex toys serve to enrich an already existing desire rather than reignite a desire that has faded—a desire that, according to the women themselves, first and foremost requires tenderness, attention, and a partner who cares for her.
🧐 François Kraus of Ifop’s perspective: This hierarchy of factors speaks volumes about the nature of female desire within a relationship; it is not fueled solely by techniques or accessories—it requires consideration, seduction, and daily attention. The fact that half of women in relationships who are not having sex expect their partners to make “more effort to be attractive” places a demand on men that has long been reserved for women: the need to remain desirable.
| François Kraus’s overall take on the study: | |
| Japan, as a counter-model, holds up a magnifying mirror to the sexual recession awaiting the aging societies of wealthy nations. In a context where sexuality plays an increasingly minor role in women’s definition of romantic happiness, and where the end of “marital duty” is now enshrined even in case law, the sexless couple is poised to become an increasingly less shameful form of marital relationship. Still, couples’ silence about their sexuality may be the first step toward ensuring that this abstinence is chosen rather than endured… For this marital abstinence has two sides. For some women (often older women or those facing health issues), it represents a relatively peaceful and accepted “post-sex” phase that hardly diminishes emotional fulfillment. But for others, abstinence tells a different story—a partner who is no longer attractive, pleasure that is now experienced alone, and that request one dares to voice only to a pollster: “Let him make an effort to be attractive.” After centuries of being told to stay beautiful, the expectation to be desirable now applies exclusively to women. | |
François Kraus, director of the “Gender, Sexualities, and Sexual Health” division at Ifop
| Patrick Pruvot’s general perspective on the study,from *Passage du Désir*: | |
| “This study confirms what we’ve been observing for twenty years: it’s possible to continue loving each other even while desiring each other less. 77% of French women in relationships have sex less often than they did at the beginning of their relationship. This is the effect of routine—not an inevitability. And women know what could reignite their desire: more tender gestures and attention (76%), more open communication about their desires (65%), and more time together as a couple (62%). Sexuality isn’t a separate realm; it reflects the couple’s entire life together. That’s the essence of a sustainable relationship: games and accessories are only valuable if they help the couple reconnect. This is also true after age 50: a changing sex life isn’t a sex life that comes to a halt. It can become slower, more sensual, and less focused on performance. Our role is to help couples choose their intimacy rather than simply endure it.”
— Patrick Pruvot, founder of Passage du Désir |
|
TO CITE THIS STUDY, YOU MUST USE AT LEAST THE FOLLOWING WORDING:
“An Ifop study for Passage du Désir conducted via a self-administered online questionnaire from August 19 to 24, 2026, among a nationally representative sample of 1,947 French women aged 18 and older, including 1,240 women in relationships.”
For the purpose of international comparison, certain questions were asked via a self-administered online questionnaire from April 3 to 7, 2026, among a sample of 3,607 women aged 18 and older, representative of the female population living in G7 countries, including 516 French women, 502 Italian women, 542 German women, 494 British women, 532 Canadian women, 507 American women, and 514 Japanese women.
About Passage du désir:
[Presentation text to be provided by Passage du désir: brand positioning, number of stores, website…]
PRESS CONTACTS:
Francis Aubouin (IFOP) – Phone: 06 88 09 76 70 – Email: francis.aubouin-ext@ifop.com
Noé FRIDMAN (IFOP) – Email: noe.fridman@ifop.com
[Passage du désir press contact – Tel.: … – email: …]
[1]See, for example, Ueda P., Mercer C. H., Ghaznavi C., Herbenick D., “Trends in Frequency of Sexual Activity and Number of Sexual Partners Among Adults Aged 18 to 44 Years in the U.S., 2000–2018,” JAMA Network Open, 2020.
[2]Bajos N., Rahib D., Lydié N. et al., “Context of Sexualities in France (CSF-2023): Initial Results,” Inserm / ANRS-MIE, November 13, 2024.
[3]Twenge J. M., Sherman R. A., Wells B. E., “Declines in Sexual Frequency among American Adults, 1989–2014,” Archives of Sexual Behavior, vol. 46, 2017. Married or cohabiting Americans reported 16 fewer sexual encounters per year in 2010–2014 than in 2000–2004.
[4]An exception confirmed by the recent Censis report, “Il piacere degli italiani. Come cambiano i costumi sessuali” (March 2026), which describes Italian sexuality as deeply rooted in stable relationships and far removed from the decline described in the literature on the “end of desire.”
[5]Japan Family Planning Association (JFPA), 2016 survey of married couples (47.2% of couples were “sexless,” compared to 31.9% in 2004). See also Ghaznavi C. et al., “Trends in Heterosexual Inexperience Among Young Adults in Japan: Analysis of National Surveys, 1987–2015,” BMC Public Health, 2019.
[6]A Sofres study for Le Figaro Magazine conducted via face-to-face interviews on September 21 and 22, 2005, with a national sample of 526 women, drawn from a national sample of 1,000 people representative of the entire population aged 18 and older. Due to differences in data collection methods, this comparison should be interpreted with caution.
[7]Michel Bozon, *Sociology of Sexuality*, Armand Colin, “128” series, 3rd ed., 2013; see also Jean-Claude Kaufmann, *Not in the Mood Tonight: Consent in Couples*, Les Liens qui libèrent, 2020.
[8]Le Van, C., Ferrand, M., and Levinson, S., “The Absence of Sexual Activity: A Plural Singularity,” in Bajos, N., and Bozon, M. (eds.), *Survey on Sexuality in France: Practices, Gender, and Health*, La Découverte, 2008, pp. 333–355.
