Estonian Biobank Study Finds Male Sexual Desire Peaks at Age 40, Women’s Decline Steady

Researchers from the University of Tartu analyzed data from the Estonian Biobank, a national repository covering about 20 % of the country’s adult residents. The sample comprised 67,334 participants, 70 % women, who answered two items on sexual desire and provided information on age, gender, education, marital status, sexual orientation, parenthood, and occupation.

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Across the adult lifespan men reported stronger desire than women. Male desire rose to a peak in the late 30s to early 40s, while women’s desire fell steadily from early adulthood onward. Bisexual and pansexual respondents indicated higher desire than heterosexual participants; asexual respondents reported the lowest levels. Recent parenthood was linked to a modest increase in desire, reflecting the younger age of new parents.

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Occupational analysis showed male sales workers reported higher desire than male senior officials, whereas female sales workers reported lower desire than female managers. More children correlated with higher desire in men but lower desire in women. Relationship satisfaction was positively associated with desire, especially for women. Together, basic demographic variables accounted for nearly 30 % of the variance in sexual desire, a notable proportion for population-level psychological research.

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The sample is limited to Estonia, restricting cross-cultural generalizability. Sexual desire was measured with only two self-report items, omitting distinctions such as solitary versus dyadic desire. Self-report bias may cause under-reporting, particularly among women. The cross-sectional design prevents causal inference, and partner reports were not collected.

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The authors plan to integrate personality traits, mental-health indicators, and partner-perception measures into longitudinal models. They aim to examine how visibility of desire shapes relationship dynamics and to track desire trajectories across major life events.

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• “A lot of sexuality research still relies on relatively small or highly specific samples, and many findings about sexual desire are discussed almost as if they were settled facts despite the evidence often being fragmented or inconsistent,” — Toivo Aavik, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Tartu

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• “The biggest takeaway is probably that gender and age matter quite a lot for sexual desire at the population level, more than many people might expect,” — Toivo Aavik

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• “One thing that surprised us was that men’s sexual desire appeared to peak around their late 30s or early 40s rather than simply decline steadily with age,” — Toivo Aavik

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• “Another important point is that demographic variables alone explained almost 30% of the variance in sexual desire, which is actually quite a lot for population-level psychological research,” — Toivo Aavik

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