{"id":46709,"date":"2025-10-08T05:58:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T03:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/?p=46709"},"modified":"2026-03-15T22:28:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T21:28:56","slug":"condom-usage-survey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/condom-usage-survey\/","title":{"rendered":"Condom Use Is Dropping \u2014 LELO\u2019s New Survey Shows Why"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last year\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/europe\/news\/item\/29-08-2024-alarming-decline-in-adolescent-condom-use--increased-risk-of-sexually-transmitted-infections-and-unintended-pregnancies--reveals-new-who-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">survey<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by WHO issued a distress signal showing that condom use among sexually active adolescents declined significantly, leading to worryingly high rates of unprotected sex and increased risk of sexually transmitted infections. Following these disturbing findings, Swedish powerhouse in sexual wellness <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lelo.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LELO<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> conducted a survey of its own about the condom use among different age groups (*).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A survey conducted with six thousand participants, ranging from GenX to GenZ, highlights a worrisome trend of decrease in the use of condoms.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>LELO 2025 Condom Usage Survey Findings<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When asked about their use of condoms during intercourse:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">30% say they use them all the time and 17% use condoms most of the time &#8211; even with long standing partners.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though not as significant as the drop among 15-year-olds surveyed by the WHO, still 17% of all those participating in LELO survey say that their use of condoms decreased significantly in the last five years.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the same time, 15% of those participating claim their use of condoms increased significantly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Almost 40% say their use of condoms is the same as it has been before.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alarmingly, 8% say they have never used condoms.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Condom Usage Reasons<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among those who do use condoms, reasons for using them vary:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The majority uses condoms to avoid contracting STDs (38%).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pregnancy is a big concern, and 34% use condoms to avoid getting pregnant.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6% confessed they use condoms because their partner(s) asked them to. Following this response, it is interesting to see how people would react if their partner suggested using a condom. Almost one third (32%) would be glad if their partner brought this, and a quarter would take this as a sign that their partner cares about their wellbeing. At the same time, 12% say this would be cause for concern and would question the partner\u2019s sexual history, with almost 10% interpreting as though their own sexual history is being questioned.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Factors Contributing to This Decline<\/h2>\n<h3>Reduced Perception of HIV Risk<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advancements in HIV prevention, such as PrEP, have, in some contexts, diminished the perceived necessity of consistent condom use, potentially overshadowing its importance for preventing other STIs &#8211; 6% think that AIDS is no longer the threat it was in the 1980s and 1990s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Shifting Attitudes<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some young people report negative perceptions of condoms, believing they can detract from sexual pleasure. Most respondents say that having sex without using condoms just feels better (37%), while 16% think the time needed to put on a condom just breaks the flow and dampens the mood.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Socioeconomic Inequality<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The survey notes a correlation between condom use and socioeconomic status, with 68% of those surveyed believing income, education level, access to healthcare leads to a lesser use of condoms or other contraception. Better education for all would combat the common fallacies \u2013 these being that almost 15% believe that having a few partners does not merit using a condom; while 14% find buying condoms embarrassing. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One in ten believe that having sex without condoms now and then is no big problem, while further 10% of those participating in the survey conclude that condoms break so often they are not worth using and\/or condoms are too much trouble to use so they just opt not to use them at all.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even though the overall decline is not as striking as is the case among teenagers , the consequences of this trend are grave. Refusing to use condoms bears a direct influence on the\u00a0 rising risk of STIs and contributes to higher healthcare costs. Focus on comprehensive sexuality education and public health campaigns, as well as access to both prophylaxis (condoms) and healthcare is needed to address this critical issue and protect the health and safety of people worldwide. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the same time, condom manufacturers are doing their part, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/hex-organic\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">creating products that protect while not inhibiting the experience<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Advances in condoms include new materials, like organically sourced latex, offering users no excuses by introducing increased effectiveness without compromising on pleasure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">*Survey conducted by Censuswide in July 2025 for LELO; 6003 respondents in the UK, USA, France, Italy, Spain, and Sweden<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Enjoy 15% off <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LELO.com<\/a> with code <span style=\"color: #800080;\">VOLONTE15<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last year\u2019s survey by WHO issued a distress signal showing that condom use among sexually active adolescents declined significantly, leading to worryingly high rates of unprotected sex and increased risk of sexually transmitted infections. Following these disturbing findings, Swedish powerhouse in sexual wellness LELO conducted a survey of its own about the condom use among different age groups (*). A survey conducted with six thousand participants, ranging from GenX to GenZ, highlights a worrisome trend of decrease in the use [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":46710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,929],"tags":[788,463],"coauthors":[947],"class_list":["post-46709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sex-tips-advice","category-sexual-wellness","tag-condom","tag-survey"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Safe Sex Trends 2025: LELO Survey Warns of Rising STI Risk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New LELO survey proves that condoms remain important for sexual health even in\u00a0the face of decline in condom use.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/condom-usage-survey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Safe Sex Trends 2025: LELO Survey Warns of Rising STI Risk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New LELO survey proves that condoms remain important for sexual health even in\u00a0the face of decline in condom use.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/condom-usage-survey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Volont\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LELO.Official\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-08T03:58:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-15T21:28:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/declining-condom-usage.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"425\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Donna Turner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Lelo_Official\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Lelo_Official\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Donna Turner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/condom-usage-survey\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/condom-usage-survey\/\",\"name\":\"Safe Sex Trends 2025: LELO Survey Warns of Rising STI Risk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/condom-usage-survey\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/condom-usage-survey\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/declining-condom-usage.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-08T03:58:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-15T21:28:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ee7d40fffc3a3ad51f9cb3b4fa664198\"},\"description\":\"New LELO survey proves that condoms remain important for sexual health even in\u00a0the face of decline in condom use.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/condom-usage-survey\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/condom-usage-survey\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/condom-usage-survey\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/declining-condom-usage.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/declining-condom-usage.png\",\"width\":850,\"height\":425,\"caption\":\"less people using condoms\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/condom-usage-survey\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Volonte\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.lelo.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sex Tips &amp; 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