How British attitudes to sex before marriage have changed

What do surveys measure about attitudes to sex before marriage?

Two long-running surveys dominate the evidence, and they answer different questions. British Social Attitudes (BSA), run by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) since 1983, asks a representative sample of people in Britain what they think, using random probability sampling ^[10]. The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) asks what people do, with some questions on attitudes, and has been run roughly once a decade since 1990–91 ^[5].

The BSA question that bears directly on the topic asks whether sex before marriage is wrong, with answers on a scale from always wrong to not wrong at all. NatCen's reports usually quote the share choosing the most permissive option, not wrong at all ^[2]. That is a demanding test, because it excludes people who say it is only sometimes or rarely wrong. A separate question asks whether people who want children ought to get married, which measures views on marriage and parenthood rather than on sex ^[1].

The survey runs every year except 1988 and 1992 ^[10]. It covers Great Britain, not Northern Ireland, which has its own social attitudes survey that is not covered by the sources consulted for this page. Samples are large enough for national trends and for broad splits by age and religion, but not for reliable figures on small groups, and NatCen itself warns about small samples for some religious categories ^[3].

Natsal is a different kind of instrument. Its interviews combine a face-to-face part with a confidential self-completion section, and the question of attitudes forms one section among many on behaviour and health ^[4]. Natsal-1 interviewed 18,876 people aged 16 to 59 in 1990–91 ^[6], and Natsal-3 surveyed 15,162 adults aged 16 to 74 in 2010–12 ^[7]. The project was proposed in the mid-1980s to inform HIV prevention, and government support was reportedly vetoed in September 1989, after which the Wellcome Trust provided the funding ^[9]. Its history, funding and methods are described on the page about Natsal, Britain's national sex survey.

Timeline

1. 1983British Social Attitudes begins; 42% say sex before marriage is not wrong at all [2][10].
2. 198970% agree that people who want children ought to marry; 44% see nothing wrong in pre-marital sex [1][2].
3. September 1989Government support for the planned national sex survey is reported withdrawn; the Wellcome Trust steps in [9].
4. 1990-91Natsal-1 interviews 18,876 people aged 16 to 59 [6].
5. 1999-2001Natsal-2 surveys 11,161 adults aged 16 to 44 [4].
6. 2010-12Natsal-3 surveys 15,162 adults aged 16 to 74 [7].
7. 2012Agreement that parents-to-be should marry falls to 42%; 64% see nothing wrong in sex before marriage [1][2].
8. 2019 and 2022The pre-marital sex figure reaches 76%, then 78% [2]. Natsal-4 results are announced for the end of November 2026 [5].

How have British views changed since the 1980s?

The share of Britons who see nothing wrong with sex before marriage almost doubled between 1983 and 2022. In the 40th BSA report, Elizabeth Clery found that 42% chose not wrong at all in 1983 and again in 1984, 44% in 1989, 64% in 2012, 76% in 2019 and 78% in 2022 ^[2]. The figure barely moved in the 1980s, jumped in the following two decades and has levelled off since 2019.

The same table records a much larger change for same-sex relationships, from 17% in 1983 to 67% in both 2019 and 2022 ^[2]. By comparison, the move on sex before marriage started from a much higher base. NatCen's headline for the 40th report was that attitudes on many sexual and family issues had become markedly more liberal ^[12].

Views of marriage and children changed alongside. The BSA reported that agreement that people who want children ought to get married fell from 70% in 1989 to 42% in 2012, and in 2012 34% disagreed ^[1]. The decline in expectations of marriage before parenthood matches the demographic shift towards parents who are not married.

Natsal measured related attitudes in three waves. Between Natsal-1 (1990–91), Natsal-2 (1999–2001) and Natsal-3 (2010–12), acceptance of same-sex partnerships rose among both men and women. Among 16 to 44-year-olds, the share saying that male same-sex partnerships were not wrong at all went from 22.0% to 36.1% and then 48.1% for men, and from 28.1% to 51.6% and then 66.3% for women ^[4]. The same wave-by-wave comparison showed hardening, not liberalisation, on faithfulness. Over the same waves, the share of men saying that having other partners while married is always wrong went from 44.7% to 51.2% and then 62.5%, and for women from 53.2% to 59.7% and then 69.8% ^[4]. The pattern is consistent: Britons became more accepting of sex before marriage, but not of unfaithfulness within it.

Do age, religion and region make a difference?

Age and religion make a large difference, and the BSA reports on both. In 2022 the share saying sex before marriage was not wrong at all was 89% among people aged 18 to 24, 83% among those aged 25 to 34, and 64% among those aged 70 and over ^[2]. The gap is smaller than it was a few decades ago, because older cohorts have themselves moved.

The cohort data show this. In the 34th BSA report, Kirby Swales and Eleanor Attar Taylor traced birth cohorts over time. People born in the 1960s were already at 66% in 1983, rising to 70% in 2012 and 78% in 2016, while those born in the 1930s stood at 37% in 1983 and 38% in 2012 ^[3]. The 1940s cohort held steady at 53% between 1983 and 2012 and reached 59% in 2016, whereas the 1980s cohort stood at 75% in 2012 and 84% in 2016 ^[3]. The overall share in 2016 was 75% ^[3].

Religion matters in a more complicated way. In 2022, the share saying sex before marriage was not wrong at all was 92% among people with no religion, 75% among Roman Catholics, 73% among Church of England or Anglican respondents, 64% among other Christians and 32% among non-Christian religions ^[2]. In its 34th report NatCen cautioned that figures for Roman Catholics and for non-Christian religions rest on small samples, and the same caution applies to the 2022 figures ^[3]. Within Christianity, the proportion saying that there was nothing wrong rose markedly between 1985 and 2016: from 37% to 73% among Anglicans, from 38% to 76% among Catholics and from 28% to 62% among other Christians ^[3]. Church teaching on the subject is explained on the page about the Church of England and sex before marriage.

Region is the missing dimension. The BSA chapters consulted give no breakdown by England, Scotland or Wales, and no data for Northern Ireland. Differences between the nations therefore cannot be stated from these sources, and a reader should be wary of any claim about regional attitudes that does not cite a regional survey.

How do attitudes compare with behaviour?

Behaviour moved earlier than attitudes, and in some respects further. By the time more than three-quarters of Britons said sex before marriage was acceptable, nine in ten couples who married in England and Wales had lived together first: the ONS found a share of about 90% in 2022 compared with 59.6% in 1994 ^[11]. The page on living together before marriage sets out those figures in detail.

Natsal-3, which collected interviews between September 2010 and August 2012, found that the median age at first heterosexual intercourse was 17 for both sexes, and 16 among those aged 16 to 24 ^[4]. It also found that the share of adults aged 16 to 44 who were living with a partner, married or unmarried, fell between Natsal-1 and Natsal-3 from 57.7% to 52.0% among men and from 64.7% to 54.5% among women ^[4]. That is a change in living arrangements, not a measure of attitudes.

The version of the 2013 Lancet paper consulted for this page does not report attitudes to sex before marriage as such, so the Natsal waves cannot be used to extend the BSA series ^[4]. What they add is context: they show that people's lives, and the order in which they cohabit, marry and have children, changed in ways that made the old rule of marriage first difficult to apply.

Attitudes do not always track behaviour. In the BSA, 58% of people said extra-marital sex was always wrong in 1983 and 57% said so in 2022, so the disapproval of sex outside an existing marriage barely changed over 39 years ^[2]. The permissive turn was thus specific to sex before marriage and same-sex relationships. Views of sex within marriage with someone else did not follow.

Is Britain more liberal than its neighbours?

On the evidence available, Britain sits at the liberal end of Europe, which is itself the most liberal region in the world. A Pew Research Center report in 2014, based on a survey of about 40 countries, described Europe as the world's most tolerant region on premarital sex ^[13]. The Pew pages consulted do not give separate figures for Britain or its neighbours, so a precise ranking cannot be drawn here, and the survey is more than a decade old.

International comparisons need care, because the questions differ. BSA asks about wrongness on a scale, Pew asks about moral acceptability, and the answer categories do not map onto each other. The BSA and Natsal also cover Great Britain only. A reader who wants to compare Britain with the Republic of Ireland, France or Germany should look for harmonised surveys such as the European Values Study, which are outside the sources used for this page.

What can be said with confidence is the British trend. The BSA series shows a steady rise in acceptance, a stable condemnation of infidelity and a sharp generational and religious divide ^[2]. Whether acceptance has reached a ceiling is not yet clear, since the 2019 and 2022 results (76% and 78%) are close together. Natsal-4, with fieldwork between September 2022 and April 2024 and about 19,000 participants aged 16 to 59, has its results announced for the end of November 2026 ^[5].

Frequently asked questions

What is the British Social Attitudes survey?

It is an annual survey of public opinion in Britain run by NatCen, in operation since 1983. It skipped 1988 and 1992 and uses random probability sampling to represent the British population ^[10]. Its reports track attitudes on subjects ranging from the economy to sexual morality ^[12].

Are religious Britons more likely to disapprove of sex before marriage?

Yes, but the gap varies by religion. In 2022, 92% of people with no religion said sex before marriage was not wrong at all, against 73% of Anglicans, 75% of Catholics and 32% of followers of non-Christian religions ^[2]. Among Christians the figure rose sharply between 1985 and 2016 ^[3].

Did the 1960s really change British attitudes?

The surveys here cannot answer directly, because BSA began in 1983. They do show a generation gap that was already wide by then: among people born in the 1960s, 66% saw nothing wrong in sex before marriage in 1983, against 37% of those born in the 1930s ^[3].

Is sex outside marriage still widely disapproved of?

Sex outside an existing marriage is. The BSA found that 58% of people said extra-marital sex was always wrong in 1983 and 57% said so in 2022 ^[2]. The distinction between sex before marriage and infidelity is one of the clearest features of British opinion.

Does Natsal ask about sex before marriage?

Natsal asks about attitudes and behaviour, but the main published comparison across the first three waves covers other attitudes, such as same-sex partnerships and faithfulness within marriage, and not sex before marriage ^[4]. The BSA remains the main source for that specific question. Natsal's strength lies in behaviour, such as age at first intercourse, which was 17 in Natsal-3 ^[4].

When will Natsal-4 results be published?

The Natsal website announces that Natsal-4 results will be published at the end of November 2026 ^[5]. It does not say which findings will come first. Fieldwork ran from September 2022 to April 2024 with about 19,000 participants aged 16 to 59 ^[8]. Until the release, no Natsal-4 findings on attitudes can be reported.