Britain’s National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) are among the largest and most detailed scientific studies of sex in the world to date.
Three Natsal surveys have been carried out so far: in 1990–91, 1999–2001, and 2010–12. Rather than asking for volunteers, they selected participants using random sampling methods to give a representative picture of the population. The questions about sexual behaviour, experiences and attitudes use a combination of face-to-face and self-completion interviewing. More than 45,000 people have been interviewed.
The surveys are carried out by researchers at University College London, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and NatCen Social Research. The latest survey was funded through grants from the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council.
For more information about Natsal, visit natsal.ac.uk.
Sex by Numbers: The Statistics of Sexual Behaviour by Professor David Spiegelhalter draws on the Natsal data and answers crucial questions such as - What are we all doing? How often? How has it changed? Available from all good bookshops and online. Find out more by scrolling to the end of this site.