Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
A new comparative study conducted by the World Health Organization showed that condom use among young people across Europe decreased between 2014 and 2022. Young people are increasingly having unprotected sex. The proportion of boys and girls who do not use the pill or condoms is also higher in low-income families. According to local media in Brussels, the Belgian news agency added, "The World Health Organization compared data from 42 countries in Europe, Central Asia and Canada. Between 2014 and 2022, 242,000 young people aged 15 were surveyed. The World Health Organization confirms that condom use has decreased significantly. In 2014, 70% of boys indicated that they used a condom the last time they had sex; by 2022, this percentage had fallen to 61%. As for girls, the percentage fell from 63% to 57%. Condom use among girls is lowest in Albania (24%) and highest in Serbia (81%). It is striking that countries achieve different results for boys: Sweden has the lowest percentage at 43%, and Switzerland is the highest at 77%. Boys from a high-income family use condoms 10% more often than boys from a low-income family. Low.

So condom use is declining, but contraceptive pill use remains stable: 26 percent of girls say they used the pill the last time they had sex, and 25 percent of boys say their partner protected themselves with the pill. Flanders scores well above average: 48 percent of girls and 50 percent of boys say they or their partner used the pill. Only the Netherlands is improving.

“Disturbing”
What is particularly worrying, according to the WHO, is the high rate of unprotected sex. A third (30 percent of girls and 31 percent of boys) say they did not use condoms or the pill the last time. Flanders scores better than average: 23 percent of girls and 22 percent of boys say they have unprotected sex. Kyrgyzstan and Albania score the worst. There is also a noticeable difference in terms of income: among young people from low-income families, 33% have recently had unprotected sex, while among high-income families this figure is only 25%.
Insufficient sex education
In Flanders, the Dutch-speaking half of Belgium, a large-scale survey was conducted in 2022 among 20,000 young people aged 11 to 18. The results were published in May last year.
In Flanders, the data were collected by Ghent University, the same source added. Maxime Dierks is one of the researchers involved. "Flemish 15-year-olds score rather low on condom use during their last sexual intercourse," he says. Flanders ranks 28th out of all 42 countries. "We are doing very well with the pill: we are in second place. Although we have seen a slight decrease compared to 2018, Flemish young people remain world leaders in the use of the pill." “Although the study speaks of socio-economic differences, this is not evident in the Flemish data,” he concludes. According to the WHO, the findings are worrying, but not surprising. To illustrate, the WHO points to insufficient or phasing out sex education. “Sex education is increasingly being criticised because it is said to encourage sexual behaviour. It helps young people make the right healthy choices,” said Hans Kluge, WHO European Director.