Global views on premarital sex 2013
Sex before marriage
Nine out of ten people in Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, and Turkey believed that engaging in sex before marriage was not acceptable. The majority of the Europeans found premarital sex to be morally acceptable or not a moral issue at all. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world totaling over 209 million people. In some religions, like Catholicism and Islam, having sex before marriage is considered morally unacceptable. Other predominantly religious countries such as Jordan and Pakistan also have similar rates of this belief.
In the United States, 29 percent of people consider the act of having sex before marriage as morally wrong while 20 percent believe that getting a divorce is also morally unacceptable . Abstinence-only sex education is not uncommon in the United States where states can apply for federal funding for these programs. Abstinence-only programs try to prevent teens or all unmarried individuals from having any sexual activity. Critics state that these programs often include negative messages about sexuality, gender roles, and may also try to minimize the effectiveness of birth control. Some 13 percent of teenage students desire more information about contraceptive use . Education about contraception and safe sex can help prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.