Sex Surveys in Europe: Reflections on over Four Decades of Sexual Behavior and Sexual Health Surveillance

Figures & data

Table 1. Overview and characteristics of the surveys included in this review.

Country	Year	Name	Age	Recruitment	Sample size	Response/cooperation rate^c	Type of survey^b	Topic	Key Citation
BE	1997	Sexual behavior study	18–49	Population register	4,632	11%	PAPI	STI/HIV risk behaviors	Peto et al. (1995)
BE	2013	Sexpert	14–80	Population register	1,825	38%	CAPI; CASI	Sexual health broad	Buysse et al. (2013)
GB	1990–91	Natsal-1	16–59	Household register	18,876	63%	PAPI	Sexual behavior, sexual attitudes, HIV risk	Wellings et al. (1994)
GB	1999–01	Natsal-2	16–44	Household register	11,161	64%	CAPI; CASI	Sexual behavior, sexual attitudes, STI/HIV risk, reproductive health	Johnson et al. (2001)
GB	2010–12	Natsal-3	16–74	Household register	15,162	58%	CAPI; CASI	Sexual health broad	Mercer et al. (2013)
GB	2020–23	Natsal-COVID	18–59	Panel^a	-	n/a	CAWI	Sexual health broad	Mitchell et al. (2023)
GB	2022–23	Natsal-4	16–59	Household register and Panel	-	-	CAPI; CASI; CATI; CAWI	Sexual health broad	-
CZ	1993	Sexual Behavior of Czechs I	15+	Panel	1,719	(83%)	PAPI	Sexual behavior and attitudes	Weiss & Zvěřina (1999)
CZ	1998	Sexual Behavior of Czechs II	15+	Panel	2,003	(81%)	PAPI	Sexual behavior and attitudes	Weiss & Zvěřina (2001)
CZ	2003	Sexual Behavior of Czechs III	15+	Panel	2,000	(80%)	PAPI	Sexual behavior and attitudes	Weiss (2006)
CZ	2008	Sexual Behavior of Czechs IV	15+	Panel	2,000	(62%)	PAPI	Sexual behavior and attitudes	Weiss & Zvěřina (2008)
CZ	2013	Sexual Behavior of Czechs V	15+	Panel	2,017	(62%)	PAPI	Sexual behavior and attitudes	Weiss (2014)
CZ	2020	Love and Intimacy	20–90	Panel	1,616	(43%)	CAWI	Sexual development, love and intimacy, sexual positions	-
CZ	2020	I-SHARE	18+	Panel	1,200	unknown	CAWI	Sexual behavior, reproductive health, sexual violence	Plášilová et al. (2021)
CZ	2022	Sexual Behavior, health and well-being in ČR	-	-	-	-	CASI	Sexual behavior, health and wellbeing	-
FI	1971	FINSEX	18–54	Population register	2,152	91%	PAPI	Sexual behavior and disorders	Sievers et al. (1974)
FI	1992	FINSEX	18–74	Population register	2,250	76%	PAPI	Sexual behavior and attitudes, sexual medicine	Kontula & Haavio-Mannila (1995)
FI	1999	FINSEX	18–81	Population register	1,496	46%	PAPI	Sexual Health broad	Haavio-Mannila et al. (2003)
FI	2007	FINSEX	18–74	Population register	2,590	43%	PAPI, CAWI	Sexual Health broad	Kontula (2009)
FI	2015	FINSEX	18–79	Population register	2,150	37%	PAPI, CAWI	Sexual Health broad	Kontula (2015)
FR	1970	Le comportement sexuels des Francais	20+	National quotas	2,620		PAPI	Marital life, contraception and sexuality	Simon (1972)
FR	1992	ACSF Analyse des comportements sexuels en France	18–69	Telephone register	20,055	76%	CATI	Sexuality + HIV	Spira et al. (1992)
FR	2006	CSF-2006 Contexte de la sexualité en France	18–69	Telephone register	12,386	75%	CATI	Sexuality, sexual health broad	Bajos & Bozon (2012)
FR	2022–2023	CSF-2022 Contexte des sexualité en France	15+	Telephone register	-	-	CATI+CAWI	Sexuality, sexual health broad	-
LV	1997	Reproductive Health in Latvia	15–45	Household register	4,568	83%	PAPI	Sexual behavior and wellbeing, reproductive health	Rudze et al. (1998)
LV	2003	Reproductive Health of the Population	15–49	Household register	2,452	-	PAPI	Sexual behavior and wellbeing, reproductive health	Putniņa et al. (2004)
LV	2011	Reproductive Health of the Population	15–50	Household register	2,617	12%	PAPI	Sexual behavior and wellbeing, reproductive health	Putniņa (2011)
LV	2022–2023	Sexual and Reproductive Behavior and Health of Population in Latvia	15–64	Household register	-	-	PAPI	Sexual behavior and wellbeing, reproductive health	-
NL	1991	Sex in the Netherlands	18–50	Population register of 50 municipalities	1,001	58%	PAPI	Sexual behavior, sexual attitudes, STI/HIV risk	Van Zessen & Sandfort (1991)
NL	2006	Sexual health in the Netherlands	19–70	Panel	4,147	(28%)	CAWI	Sexual Health broad	Vanwesenbeeck et al. (2010)
NL	2009	Sexual health in the Netherlands	15–70	Panel	6,428	(20%)	CAWI	Sexual Health broad	De Haas et al. (2012)
NL	2011	Sexual health in the Netherlands	15–70	Panel	8,064	(19%)	CAWI	Sexual Health broad	De Graaf & De Haas (2018)
NL	2017	Sexual health in the Netherlands	18–80	Population register	17,248	26%	CAWI, PAPI	Sexual Health broad	De Graaf & Wijsen (2017)
NL	2022	Sexual health in the Netherlands	18–80	Population register	-	-	CAWI, PAPI	Sexual Health broad	-
NO	1987	Sexual behavior study 1987	18–60	Population register	4,220	63%	PAPI	Sexual risk behaviors	Sundet et al. (1989)
NO	1992	Sexual behavior study 1992	18–60	Population register	3,178	48%	PAPI	Sexual risk behaviors	Stigum et al. (1997)
NO	1997	Sexual behavior study 1997	18–49	Population register	3,723	38%	PAPI	Sexual risk behaviors	Træen et al. (2003)
NO	2002	Sexual behavior study 2002	18–49	Population register	3,387	36%	PAPI	Sexual risk behaviors, pornography	Træen et al. (2006)
NO	2008	Sexual behavior study 2008	18–59	Population register	2,381	20%	CAWI, PAPI	Sexual behavior and wellbeing	Træen & Daneback (2013)
NO	2009	Sexual behavior study 2009	18–67	Panel	1,671	(39%)	CAWI	Sexual behavior and wellbeing, sexual identity	Træen & Stigum (2010)
NO	2013	Sexual behavior study 2013	18–29	Panel	2,090	(27%)	CAWI	Sexual diversity, sexual risk behavior, casual relationships	Træen et al. (2016)
NO	2020	Sexual behavior study 2020	18–89	Panel	4,160	(35%)	CAWI	Sexual diversity, sexual risk behavior, sexual wellbeing	Træen et al. (2021)
SP	2008	National Sexual Health survey 2008	16+	Population register	9,850	unknown	PAPI	Sexual behavior, satisfaction, sexual education	Ruiz-Muñoz et al. (2013)
SW	1967	Sexlive in Sweden	18–60	Population register	2,266	90%	PAPI	Sexual behavior and attitudes	Zetterberg (1969)
SW	1996	Lifestyle, sexuality and health	18–74	Population register	5,200	59%	PAPI	Sexual behavior and attitudes	Lewin et al. (1998)
SW	2017	SRHR2017	16–84	Population register	15,186	31%	PAPI	Sexual and reproductive health	Björkholm (2019)
GE	2018–19	GeSiD	18–75	Population register	4,995	30%	CAPI/CASI	Sexual health broad	Matthiesen et al. (2021)

^aPanel = panel of regular responders to online surveys, either a probability panel or a self-selected panel, such as those maintained by large market research organisations.

^bPAPI = Paper and Pencil Interviewing; CAPI = Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing; CATI = Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing; CASI = Computer-Assisted Self Interviewing; CAWI = Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing (CAWI).

^cResponse rates are presented as reported by each study, therefore there may be inconsistencies in how these are calculated. For Panel studies, these are likely to be “cooperation rates” i.e. the proportion of invited panel members who completed the survey.

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