Some 96% of the Dutch think you should always check with your partner to make sure they want to have sex, according to new research by sexual health agency Rutgers.

The figure comes from the foundation’s latest report on sexual health in the Netherlands, which also shows 88% of Dutch people think sex education should be compulsory in schools and 86% say women should be able to choose whether to have an abortion.

There are, however, some less favourable developments, the foundation said. The use of condoms and contraceptive pill is going down, sexual violence remains high and many LHB people still face threats and bullying.

Some 43% of men and 56% of women whose most recent sexual partner was a one-night stand told researchers they did not use a condom.

The use of the pill has also plummeted from 30% to 24% among women who have sex with men, although the IUD has increased in popularity. One in three of the women who don’t use any contraceptives say they don’t want to take hormones.

Last year, the health inspectorate signaled a sharp rise in the number of abortions carried out in the Netherlands and abortion clinics reported  seeing more women who had become pregnant as a result of using “natural” ways of not conceiving, inspired by social media.

There is still work for the government to do, said national manager Luc Lauwers. “Good policy demands expertise and monitoring of sexual health, particularly in times of increasing disinformation,” he said. “It is crucial that the cabinet continue to invest in sexual health and rights.”

The research also shows that one in 10 people used a dating app in the past six months, unchanged from 2017. One in 12 said they had sent someone else a sexually-tinted photograph

Almost one in four women and 5% of men said they had experienced sexual violence at some point in their lives, but this was mostly between the ages of 18 and 21. Again, this is virtually the same percentage as in 2017.

The Netherlands recently passed legislation that focuses on mutual consent, both before and during sexual acts.

Seven out of 10

The Dutch give their sex lives an average score of seven out of 10, although only 48% are happy about how often they have sex, the survey showed.

Some seven in 10 people aged 18 to 80 had had sex in the previous year, with an average of between once and three times a month.

Rutgers questioned 15,000 people aged 18 to 80 for the survey.