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South Korean married couples report the second lowest frequency of sexual intercourse in the world, a survey shows.

“Heyday,” a lifestyle and health magazine published by LINA Life Insurance, reported findings on June 29 from a survey on the sex lives of 1,090 adult men and women. The results of study, conducted with the Korean Institute for Sexual and Couples’ Health (KISCH), showed 36.1% of the 743 married individuals to fall in the “sexless” category, saying they had sex once a month or less. The category is typically applied to people whose frequency of intercourse is once or less a month over the past year.

When both married and unmarried people were considered together, the “sexless” rate for all men and women jumped to 38.2%. Rates also climbed with age, with 43.9% of married people 50 and over falling in the category. The sexless rate was found to increase from 30.7% for couples married 11 to 20 years to 37.2% for those married 21 to 30 years and 53.9% for those married 31 years or more.

“According to papers overseas, the global percentage of married couples who are not having intercourse is around 20%. South Korea’s rate is very high in comparison, second only to Japan,” said KISCH director Kang Dong-woo.

Japan’s reported sexless rate stood at 44.6% in 2014.

The tendency for couples to sleep in separate rooms was identified as the chief factor in decreased frequency of intercourse. The sexless rate for couples sleeping in separate rooms was 64.9%, or nearly triple the 23.3% reported for couples sleeping in the same room. Couples sleeping in separate rooms also showed a 44.3% rate of dissatisfaction with their sex life - again nearly three times the 13.5% reported when couples sleep in the same room.

On average, sexless couples rated their overall satisfaction with married life at 5.8 points out of ten. In contrast, couples who still have sex gave a rating of 6.6 points. LINA Life interpreted the findings as showing that sex between married couples is not merely a form of pleasure, but an important part of relationship satisfaction.

The highest reported frequency of intercourse for adult South Koreans was two to three times a month, cited by 30.4% of respondents. Once or fewer times was the second most highly reported at 24.2%, followed by once a week (19.2%) and two to three times a week (12.8%). Males and females in their fifties reported having their first experience with sexual intercourse at an average age of 22.71 and 25.03, respectively, while respondents in their twenties gave ages of 20.91 for males and 21.09 for females.

By Yu Sun-hui, staff reporter

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