Gen Z is having markedly less sex than Gen X’ers and Millennials did as young adults. In the General Social Survey, a remarkable 3 in 10 Gen Z men ages 18 to 25 have not had sex in the last year—twice as many as when Millennials were the youngest adults (see Figure 6.15). For Gen Z women, it’s 1 in 4, up from 1 in 7 among Millennials. This is not due to the COVID-19 pandemic: The number of Gen Z young adults not having sex was about the same in 2018, before the pandemic hit. Maybe you’ve heard of the sex recession? For Gen Z, it’s a sex depression.
