According to “Condom Use Before Marriage and Its Correlates: Evidence from India,” a study published in International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, the majority of people in India having premarital sex between the ages of 15 and 24 did not use condoms. “Only 7% of young women and 27% of young men who had had premarital sex had ever used condoms.” Moreover, of the 2,408 people surveyed, only 3 percent of women and 13 percent of men reported that they used a condom every time they had sex.
K.G. Santhya, Rajib Acharya and Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, who conducted the study, found that both men and women cited their discomfort with approaching a pharmacist or medical provider as their primary reason for not obtaining and using a condom. In addition, many of those surveyed did not believe they were at risk for becoming pregnant or contracting a sexually transmitted infection: “Only 40% of the 106 women who discussed the risk of pregnancy reported having worried about becoming pregnant. Similarly, only eight of the 51 men who discussed pregnancy reported they had been worried about their partner becoming pregnant.”
The authors of the study recommend that educational programs be established to encourage condom use among young people. They also advocated for the greater accessibility of condoms.
