Between friends’ stories, movie scenes and porn, many men imagine that a “good” relationship must last forever. When the moment ends quickly, the comparison with this fantasy can be brutal, especially if we secretly wonder: am I lasting “enough” long for my age? Scientific studies, however, paint a much shorter and much more banal picture. In France, counting only penetration until ejaculation, the average duration of sexual intercourse is around a median time of 5 minutes 24 seconds, far from the 20 or 30 minutes that many have in mind.
What studies say about the average duration of sexual intercourse
A large survey of 500 heterosexual couples in five countries, published in the Journal of Sexual Medicinetimed each intercourse from the start of penetration until ejaculation. Result: a median time of 5 minutes 24 seconds, with extremes ranging from 33 seconds to 44 minutes. Other works generally place this average between 5 and 7 minutes.
These figures clash with the representations conveyed by pornographic films: “Pornography emphasizes the duration of the act, which distorts the perception of normality. But it is also true that many women today express different, more assertive expectations. This shows a positive evolution of dialogue within the couple“, explained sexologist Gianpaolo Furgiuele in a previous article.
And the French during their lives?
In France, men aged 18 to 30 stay on average 6.5 minutes in penetration before ejaculation, while this duration drops to 4.3 minutes after 50 years. A Lovehoney brand survey, which looks at the time until orgasm, finds longer durations: 16.14 minutes for 18-24 year olds and 18.29 minutes for 25-34 year olds, with a slight decline to 17.4 minutes between 35 and 44 year olds.
With age, the figures drop slowly: 14.15 minutes on average between 45 and 54 years old, 11.3 minutes between 55 and 64 years old, then 8.15 minutes after 65 years old. In the latter group, 28% of men report lasting between six and ten minutes, 26% between three and five minutes, and 1% more than an hour. After age 60, slower arousal and longer recovery times are still considered normal.
Ladies’ feelings
A ZAVA survey showed that 57% of French people greatly overestimate the duration of a report, with many imagining between 10 and 30 minutes, or even more than an hour. Studies where couples evaluate their satisfaction paint a different picture, for penetration time only:
- 1 to 2 minutes is considered “too short” or “frustrating”;
- 3 to 7 minutes is perceived as “adequate” or “sufficient”;
- 7 to 13 minutes is described as “desirable” or “satisfactory”;
- beyond 30 minutes, many people talk about the report being “too long”.
Preliminaries, often missing from statistics, easily add 10 to 15 minutes, sometimes much more. For many couples, the famous 5 to 7 minutes of penetration are therefore part of a much longer and often sufficient overall experience.