A large scale youth survey in six Indian states has shown that premarital sex is common among young men. No surprise there.

But what did come as a shock (at least to the Times of India) was the finding that a higher percentage of women aged 15-24 had had sex before reaching the age of 15.

Around 15% of young men and 4% of young women interviewed admitted to having pre-marital sex.  But 24% of the women had premarital sex for the first time before age 15 compared to 9% of men.

Premarital sex was also found to be more common in rural India.

According to the report prepared by Population Council, Delhi, and International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai, youth in rural areas were also more likely than those in urban areas to have initiated a pre-marital romantic relationship at age 15 (29% compared to 17% among young men, and 46% compared to 31% among young women).

Read the full story in the Times of India.