The Lovehoney LibidOlympics

From wrestling it out for first to the bedroom, to engaging in a quick game of sex position gymnastics, we’ve gone right around the world to find out which country leads when it comes to libido. But who came first place and took home the gold?

Introducing the Lovehoney LibidOlympics…

A global study that has highlighted not only how we personally rank our sexual appetites, but also how it compares to our friends in neighbouring countries across the world, has revealed some pretty interesting insights. Our Lovehoney survey asked 22,000 sexually active respondents to rate their libido on a scale of 1-10, and while you may have some preconceived ideas about who came first and where, you might be surprised by the sex drive statistics we’re about to share.

Italy Tops Europe

Si, Si, Salute! When it comes down to sex and intimate encounters, it seems that the citizens of Italy want a pizza the action, topping our Lovehoney Libido chart with a solid and justified claim to first place. Scoring an average of 6.93 on our self-surveyed Libido litmus test, Italy triumphed over European neighbours Spain and France who came second and third place, respectively. Fear not, UK residents, your horny hankering for late-night liaisons saw you come in with a modest 4th place accreditation, demonstrating a marginally higher sex drive than those residing in Germany.

Here’s how our European countries rank on the Lovehoney libido map:

Mind the Gap!

We’ve all heard of the masturbation and orgasm gaps – the social phenomenon that refers to the disparity between men and women in terms of sexual pleasure and achievement of orgasmic experiences – but our findings suggest there’s also a sexual libido gap. In a not-so-surprising turn of events, when broken down by gender, it seems that men would rank their sexual appetite higher than women, coming in with an overall self-served rating of 6.53 on the libido scoring scale, while women fessed up to their sex drives being around 12% lower, ranking just over the halfway mark at 5.76. However, according to our Lovehoney sex and relationship expert, Annabelle Knight, all might not be as it seems.

“it’s likely that men are more willing to say they have a higher sex drive and vice versa for women, as outdated notions around female (and male) sexuality still exist, whether internally or externally.” - Annabelle Knight.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…

Hong Kong, the Horniest of All...

Span the globe and take a South-Eastern trip to China and you’ll land in the horniest destination of all. Through a thorough analysis of our 22,000 survey respondents, it’s been revealed that Hong Kong is most definitely the horniest country of all. With a lip-quivering libido rating of 7.16, we can only assume that surfing the Lovehoney website for exciting new sex toys is most likely amongst their favourite LibidOlympic sports – and who could blame them?

Age is Just a Number…

Whether you’re from the Baby Boomer Generation or consider yourself a Millennial or Gen Z person, it really doesn’t matter. Our LibidOlympic survey highlights one thing that applies to us all – sex and pleasure is for everyone to have and enjoy. Although, while this may be the case, our results do show some level of difference when it comes down to libido. Globally, coming up trumps in the age categories, respondents between the ages of 25-34 years ranked as having the highest sex drive (6.73), followed closely by 35-44 year olds who slipped just marginally behind at 6.68. In the UK, however, this trend was bucked, and it was our 18-24 year olds that reported having the highest sex drive, questioning the long-standing narrative that Gen Z are wanting to have less sex. For any Gen Z looking to start their sex toy journey, the Beginner’s Guide To Sex Toys is a perfect place to begin.

Closing in on the Lovehoney LibidOlympics

Regardless of your age, gender or residing country, libido levels can vary greatly. When it comes to sex drive and how often we want, or engage with intimacy – there’s no right or wrong. Trust us, we’ve asked one of Lovehoney’s best sex and relationship experts, and the opinion was unanimous.

“Sex drives vary massively from person to person, and there is nothing to be ashamed of if yours is particularly lower or higher than average. The important thing is that you can communicate this openly with any romantic partner, and if you have matching high sex drives then get the sex toys out and have some fun.” - Annabelle Knight.

Fancy yourself a seasoned sex toy surfer? Want to sail through to your next orgasm? At Lovehoney, we have all the toys, tips, tricks and sex positions to set you on the path to your very own LibidOlympic games. Take a browse to see what’s on offer.

Sexual Satis-X-Factor

Let’s put libido aside for one second (good luck Hong Kong) and turn our attentions instead to sexual satisfaction. Because ultimately, what does it matter if your sex drive is a little low, as long as you are sexually satisfied, right?

Well, that is unless you’re the United Kingdom, where only 37% of us say we’re satisfied with our sex life.¹ If you’re thinking that this number doesn’t matter, because we’ll still be higher than Germany in the rankings, then I’m afraid you are mistaken. In fact, the United Kingdom finished bottom of the European countries we surveyed, with Spain (unsurprisingly, perhaps) coming out on top:

Sexual Satisfaction Rankings

1. Spain – 58% (said they are satisfied with their sex life)
2. France – 53%
3. Switzerland – 45%
4. Germany – 43%
5. United Kingdom – 37%

It’s not ALL doom and gloom for the nation’s sexual exploits – turns out that our younger generation are having a better time of it in the sheets: 48% of those aged 18-24 in the UK said that they are satisfied with their sex lives, while over half(!!!) of women aged 18-24 (51%) said that they were more than content.

Annabelle Knight said: “Despite being a slightly more ‘prudish’ nation than the competitors, it’s still quite surprising to see the sexual satisfaction so low. Get out there, talk about your wants and desires, and be more open to trying new things!”

Women on top?

According to the sexual satisfaction findings, we have for once found a gap that doesn’t favour the men of the world (see pay, orgasms, etc.). Unanimously, across the 11 countries partaking in the global survey, women reported to being more sexually satisfied than the men! While the difference was only a measly percentage in the UK, it was much more announced in places such as Japan, where there was a 26% difference!

Now that’s a gap we can get behind.

1 Sexual Satisfaction Rankings from Lovehoney Global Survey, April 2023 – 14,957 global respondents with 2,011 UK nationally representative Respondents

Libido ratings from Lovehoney 2022 Global Study - 22,000 respondents