by Paul Arnold, Medical Xpress
edited by Stephanie Baum, reviewed by Robert Egan
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Sexual desire is a fundamental part of being human and a driving force in many relationships, yet we still don’t fully understand why it varies so much from person to person.
In a large-scale study published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers are giving us some answers. One of the most surprising findings is that men’s desire peaks in their late 30s and early 40s, not in their teens or 20s, as previously assumed.
Researchers from the University of Tartu in Estonia analyzed data from 67,334 adults in the Estonian Biobank. This is a massive repository that contains biological samples and lifestyle information of some of the country’s adult population. The samples in the study represented about 7% of the country’s adults, with participants aged 18 to 89 years.
Levels of desire
The study authors asked these individuals to rate their general level of sexual desire and then compared their answers with a range of background information. This included age, gender, sexual orientation and even their jobs and level of education.
“Our large study considered the individual and interactive roles of several demographic factors in sexual desire, including age, gender, sexual orientation, relationship status, number of children, recent childbirth, educational attainment, and occupation,” wrote the scientists in their paper.
“The findings showed that demographic factors alone—even without accounting for psychological or relational influences—explained 28% of the variance in sexual desire.”
In other words, nearly one-third of the difference between one person’s sexual desire and another’s can be predicted just by looking at basic facts such as age, gender and family.
Key differences
The study also revealed a few more insights into the ways our lives shape our sexual desire. While it tends to dip for everyone as they get older, which was already common knowledge, it drops much more steeply in women.
Another major factor affecting desire is having children, which affects men and women differently. For women, having more children was linked to a lower sexual desire, while men with larger families, on the other hand, reported higher levels of desire.
And who has the highest levels of desire? According to the data, people who identify as bisexual or pansexual.
By providing more details about sexual desire, the researchers hope it will reduce the sense of distress in those who feel as though there is something wrong with them when their desire changes. They also want relationship counselors to use the data to help people understand that shifts in desire are often a natural response to life stages and circumstances.
Written for you by our author Paul Arnold, edited by Stephanie Baum, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive. If this reporting matters to you, please consider a donation (especially monthly). You’ll get an ad-free account as a thank-you.
Publication details
Toivo Aavik et al, Associations of Sexual Desire with Demographic and Relationship Variables, Scientific Reports (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-23483-0
Journal information: Scientific Reports
Key medical concepts
quality of sexual desire
Clinical categories
Reproductive healthWomen’s healthMen’s health
© 2026 Science X Network
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