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Table 6.5 Age at first sexual intercourse
Percentage of women and men who had first sexual intercourse by specified exact ages and median age at first
intercourse, according to current age, Ethiopia 2000
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Percentage who had first Percentage Median
sexual intercourse by exact age: never age at
_________________________________________
having
first
Current age 15 18 20 22 25 intercourse Number intercourse
____________________________________________________________________________________________
WOMEN
____________________________________________________________________________________________
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
13.5 NA NA NA NA 69.3 3,710 a
19.4 49.5 65.6 NA NA 24.6 2,860 18.1
24.5 57.1 72.3 81.9 88.1 7.4 2,585 17.0
29.3 73.4 83.7 88.7 92.4 1.6 1,841 15.8
34.5 70.9 82.7 90.2 93.0 0.4 1,716 15.8
32.0 76.9 88.5 93.3 94.8 0.3 1,392 15.7
32.3 75.2 86.1 92.4 95.0 0.0 1,264 15.8
20-49
27.2 64.2 77.4 84.2 87.6 8.0 11,657 16.4
25-49
29.8 68.9 81.3 88.3 92.0 2.6 8,797 16.0
____________________________________________________________________________________________
MEN
____________________________________________________________________________________________
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
5.1 NA NA NA NA 84.6 600 a
3.2 22.3 39.7 NA NA 46.8 408 a
5.3 22.0 38.8 54.3 77.8 14.9 343 21.3
2.6 26.1 52.5 65.9 77.8 3.4 276 19.7
4.8 29.6 55.3 73.0 85.6 0.0 304 19.1
3.4 24.1 47.9 65.1 76.2 0.4 182 20.2
2.9 23.6 46.1 62.8 80.8 1.2 207 20.4
1.6 20.8 37.5 60.6 75.0 0.0 142 20.7
4.1 23.7 45.2 61.1 73.4 0.1 146 20.4
25-59
3.8 24.6 46.7 63.4 78.8 4.0 1,599 20.3
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
NA = Not applicable
a Omitted when less than 50 percent of respondents in the age group x to x + 5 have had intercourse by age x
Table 6.6 shows differentials in the median age at first sexual intercourse by background
characteristics for women and men. The median age at first intercourse is lower among women in rural
areas than in urban areas, while the reverse holds true among men. This is because rural women in
general marry at a younger age than urban women, and given that the median age at first sexual
intercourse and age at first marriage among women is identical, rural women initiate sexual intercourse
at an earlier age than urban women. On the other hand, men are sexually active before marriage, and
urban men are more likely to initiate sexual activity at an earlier age than rural men. The variation by
region for women age 25-49 ranges from 14.4 years in the Amhara Region to 18.7 years in Dire Dawa.
For males, it varies from 18.3 years in the Gambela Region to 23.0 years in the Somali Region. The age
at first sexual intercourse increases with women’s education but decreases with men’s education. For
example, women with at least some secondary education initiate sex four years later than women with
no education; however, men with at least secondary education initiate sex two years earlier than men
with no education.
Other Proximate Determinants of Fertility* 79