Less sex becoming a 'political problem' for Sweden

A dip in the sex drive of couples in Sweden which made headlines in media recently will become a major 'political problem' if not addressed immediately, the government has said.

In a bid to know why the nation's sex drive seems to be falling, the government has initiated a major study into the sex lives of its citizens and it is due to be completed in 2019.

"It is important to find out how much less sex Swedes are having, and what is the reason," Gabriel Wikstrom, Sweden's Public Health Minister, was quoted as saying to Dagens Nyheter, the country's national daily.

According to Wikstrom, it has been 20 years since the last in-depth study of the sex habits of the Scandinavian country and it is time for another survey.

"If stress and other health issues are affecting Swedes' sex lives, then that makes it a political problem," Wikstrom added.

The last study, conducted in 1996 and published in 2000, showed that male Swedes have had an average of 7.1 partners and females 4.6.

The difference is mostly explained by the two genders using different criteria of who counts as a sexual partner, thelocal.se reported on Monday.

Sexual health policy should be guided not just by the problems but also by the pleasurable aspects of sex, Wikstrom noted.

"Sex is a political matter as well. We often discuss sex in negative terms, like, for example, we relate it to rape, we relate it to sexual abuse, but not to the positive thing that sex really is," Wikstrom said.

--IANS

rt/na/dg