Global Promiscuity Test

The 2025 Global Promiscuity Index, as published by NapLab and mirrored on World Population Review, is not a single survey but a composite index that aggregates six distinct, independently verifiable indicators for 45 countries. Each component is drawn from established international datasets, ensuring the ranking is far more robust than anecdotal stereotypes or small convenience samples.

Average lifetime sexual partners

Primary source: the Durex Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey (2006–2022 waves, n > 300,000 across 41 countries) supplemented by more recent BedBible Research (2023–2024) and national health surveys (e.g., Natsal-3 in the UK, NSSHB in the US). These are face-to-face or online self-reports with rigorous weighting for age and region.

Mean age of virginity loss

Compiled from WHO HBSC reports, national fertility studies, and academic meta-analyses (e.g., Twenge et al., 2022; Wellings et al., Natsal, 2006–2022). The 2025 index uses 2020–2024 data where available, producing a global range from 15.4 (Iceland) to 22.8 (India).

Sexually transmitted infection incidence

Direct WHO/UNAIDS 2023–2024 notifications for chlamydia, gonorrhoea, and syphilis per 100,000 population. Higher rates are treated as a proxy for higher partner turnover in populations with comparable testing access.

Societal acceptance of premarital sex

Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Survey (2019–2024 waves) and Gallup World Poll question: “Is sex before marriage morally acceptable?” The percentage answering “acceptable” or “not a moral issue” ranges from 94 % in Germany to 4 % in Indonesia.

Legality and regulation of prostitution

Coded from the Sexuality Research & Social Policy database and national legislation (2024 update). Full decriminalisation (New Zealand, parts of Australia) scores highest; total criminalisation of both buying and selling (most Muslim-majority countries) scores lowest.

Cultural/legal stance on premarital sex itself

While almost universally legal in the 45 ranked countries, residual criminal codes (e.g., some U.S. states until 2003, Indonesia’s 2022 law) and enforcement intensity are factored in as a minor penalty.

These six variables are z-score normalized, then averaged with equal weighting to produce the final 0–400 scale (Australia 360, India 117). The same methodological transparency appears in most World Population Review composite rankings: Happiness (World Happiness Report chapters), Healthiest Countries (Bloomberg Global Health Index + Legatum), Safest Countries (Institute for Economics & Peace Global Peace Index), etc. All rely on publicly auditable sources—WHO, World Bank, Gallup, Pew, Transparency International, Yale EPI—rather than proprietary black-box algorithms.Limitations are openly acknowledged: self-report bias (social desirability inflates conservative-country partner counts downward and liberal-country counts upward), uneven STI testing rates, and the inevitable cultural weighting of “promiscuity” itself. Despite these caveats, the convergence of multiple independent datasets produces rankings that have remained remarkably stable year-to-year, lending credibility beyond sensational headlines. In short, while no index is perfect, the 2025 Global Promiscuity Index and its sibling rankings on World Population Review represent some of the most methodologically defensible cross-national comparisons currently available to the public.

References

• Hales, D. (2025, June 4). Which countries are the most promiscuous? NapLab.
• IFOP. (2022, December 21). La sexualité occasionnelle des Européennes à l’heure des rencontres en ligne (Observatoire Wyylde de la sexualité récréative des Européennes).
• World Population Review. (2025). Most promiscuous countries 2025.