Plenty of desire, very little sex: Playboy surveyed 2,373 young Americans

On September 22, 2026, Playboy released a big study on the sex lives of young people. Together with the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, the best-known sex research center in the US, the magazine surveyed 2,373 Americans aged 18 to 29. That is Gen Z, people born between 1997 and 2008.

The question was simple: is the youth sex recession real, and are young people really having much less sex? The authors' answer: yes, but it's more complicated than it looks. The desire is still there. What's missing is the nerve, a place of their own and money.

A fifth with no experience, a fifth with ten partners#

The most striking number in the survey shows a split inside one generation. 19% of respondents have never had sex, and about as many, one in five, have already had ten or more partners. Among those who had sex in the last three months, 45% stuck to one partner.

They do kiss a lot, though. 48.5% make out nearly every day, the most common thing on the whole list. At the same time, 40% had no intercourse at all in the last three months.

Why do they want it but not do it?#

74% of single respondents rate their sex drive as moderate to very high. The problem isn't desire, it's opportunity. Here is what gets in the way most often:

• nowhere to meet people: 66.5% of singles say so;
• fear of rejection: named by 60% of respondents;
• money: 43% say it makes dating harder, and 39% admit the cost of dating has cut their chances at sex and romance;
• dating app fatigue, and here men and women are almost perfectly aligned.

Another 42% say plainly that sex isn't a priority for them right now. Among singles, 64% put other parts of adult life first.

Living with parents hurts their love lives#

About a third of respondents live with their parents, and 64% of them haven't had sex in the last three months. Among those who share a place with roommates the figure is 38%, and among those living on their own it's 27%. One in four of those at home say their parents still have strict rules.

The authors note that living with family makes sense for the budget but is a poor strategy for romance. Dating costs money, and privacy costs even more.

A screen instead of a date#

34% of young men say porn completely satisfies their sexual needs. One in three respondents sometimes chooses a screen or solo pleasure over a partner. The researchers' conclusion: for a sizable minority, digital intimacy is no longer a supplement to relationships but a substitute.

Yet they aren't very active on their own either: 36% haven't masturbated once in three months. So sex hasn't simply moved into the phone, there is less of it overall.

Anxiety and protection#

A third of respondents take antidepressants or anti-anxiety medication. They have sex less often and are less satisfied with it, though they say their desire hasn't changed.

Less sex doesn't mean safer sex. 29% never use protection during intercourse, one in six uses no contraception at all, and a third have never been tested for sexually transmitted infections. Another 29% say social media makes them less likely to choose hormonal birth control.

Who the recession skipped#

One group stands out from the overall picture: gay men. 35% of them have had ten or more partners, more than any other group in the survey. And one more funny detail: 53% of young people are sure their peers have more sex than they do. But nobody is panicking: most rate their own sex life as average or better than average.

Playboy has run surveys like this since 1983. Back then only readers of the magazine who were interested in sex answered, and 96% of men and 98% of women had lost their virginity by 25. You can't compare the numbers head to head, since this time any young American could take part. But the gap is still hard to miss.

The bottom line#

In my view, the main takeaway of the study isn't about sex, it's about economics. A generation that can't move out of their parents' place and counts every cocktail is putting intimacy on hold too. The sex recession looks less like a loss of interest and more like a queue: first a job and a place of your own, then everything else.