How long should sex last? What the research says

How long should sex last? There's no set answer, but researchers have measured how long it does last. They have timed sex with stopwatches in large groups of couples in several countries, and sex therapists have been asked what they consider normal. The authors of the therapists' survey note that the public's ideas about how long sex should last don't match the measured data.

This page sets out what the main studies found, who took part, how they measured it, and the limits of the numbers.

How long does sex last on average?

In studies that timed vaginal sex between men and women, the average time from penetration to ejaculation was about five and a half minutes. BAUS, the British Association of Urological Surgeons, puts the average time taken to ejaculate during intercourse at around 5½ minutes, and two five-nation timing studies found median times of 5.4 and 6.0 minutes.

The median is the middle value, so half the men in those studies took longer and half took less. The times were spread unevenly, bunched towards the shorter end with a long tail of longer times: in the 2005 study they ranged from 0.55 to 44.1 minutes.

Researchers call this measure the intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT): the time between the start of vaginal penetration and the start of ejaculation. So the average sex time in these studies doesn't include foreplay.

What did the timing studies find?

The three timing studies used here found a median of 5.4 minutes (2005, with a stopwatch) and 6.0 minutes (2009, with a blinded timer) in men from five countries, and, in a third study, 7.3 minutes in men without premature ejaculation and 1.8 minutes in men with it. Each had its own method and limits.

Waldinger and colleagues, 2005: a stopwatch in five countries

This study recruited 500 couples in the Netherlands, the UK, Spain, Turkey and the United States. The men were 18 or over, had been in a stable heterosexual relationship for at least six months and had sex regularly; they weren't chosen or excluded because of how quickly they ejaculated. Over four weeks, the time from penetration to ejaculation was measured with a stopwatch each time they had sex.

The median was 5.4 minutes. It fell with age, from 6.5 minutes in men aged 18 to 30 to 4.3 minutes in men over 51, and it varied by country: Turkey's median was the lowest, at 3.7 minutes. Condom use made no difference to the median, and outside Turkey, nor did circumcision: the median was 6.7 minutes in 98 circumcised men and 6.0 in 261 men who weren't circumcised, a difference that wasn't significant.

Waldinger and colleagues, 2009: a blinded timer

To interfere less with the natural way people have sex, the second study gave 474 men from the same five countries a blinded timer device instead of a stopwatch, for four weeks. The median was 6.0 minutes, ranging from 0.1 to 52.1 minutes. Men in Turkey had the shortest median, at 4.4 minutes, and men in the UK the longest, at 10.0 minutes. Circumcision and condom use made no significant difference.

Men who were unhappy with how long they lasted had a median of 5.2 minutes, only slightly below the overall median. The authors found the results very similar to their earlier stopwatch study.

Patrick and colleagues, 2005: men with and without premature ejaculation

This four-week observational study included 1,587 men aged 18 or over and their female partners, in monogamous relationships of at least six months. Partners timed sex with a stopwatch, and clinicians diagnosed premature ejaculation in 207 of the men. The median time was 1.8 minutes in men with premature ejaculation and 7.3 minutes in men without, but the two groups' times overlapped.

How long the average man lasts in bed: the main studies

	Who took part.	How it was measured.	What it found.
Waldinger and colleagues, 2005	500 couples in the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and the US	Stopwatch, over 4 weeks	Median 5.4 minutes (range 0.55 to 44.1)
Waldinger and colleagues, 2009	474 men in the same five countries	Blinded timer device, over 4 weeks	Median 6.0 minutes (range 0.1 to 52.1)
Patrick and colleagues, 2005	1,587 men and their female partners	Stopwatch held by the partner, over 4 weeks	Median 7.3 minutes without premature ejaculation, 1.8 minutes with it
Corty and Guardiani, 2008	A random sample of members of the Society for Sex Therapy and Research (US and Canada)	Survey of their opinions	Middle half of answers: adequate 3 to 7 minutes; desirable 7 to 13 minutes
Miller and Byers, 2004	152 heterosexual couples	Couples' own reports	Ideal foreplay and intercourse longer than actual, for men and women

Times run from penetration to ejaculation and leave out foreplay. The three timing studies measured vaginal sex between men and women.

How long should sex last, according to sex therapists?

A survey published in 2008 suggests the average sex therapist sees about 3 to 13 minutes as normal. It asked a random sample of members of the Society for Sex Therapy and Research in the US and Canada, and the middle half of the answers for an "adequate" time were between 3 and 7 minutes, for a "desirable" time between 7 and 13, for "too short" between 1 and 2 and for "too long" between 10 and 30.

The authors say the results suggest that the average sex therapist sees intercourse lasting 3 to 13 minutes as normal and not in itself a cause for clinical concern. The therapists' views were consistent with the measured data, and the authors suggested that sharing the results with the public could change expectations and prevent distress.

How long do couples want sex to last?

In one study, both men and women wanted sex to last longer than it did. In that 2004 study of 152 heterosexual couples, both partners said their ideal length of foreplay and of intercourse was longer than what actually happened. Ideal foreplay did not differ between men and women, but men reported a longer ideal length of intercourse than their partners did.

Their guesses about each other were off too. The women, but not the men, significantly underestimated how long their partners wanted foreplay and intercourse to last, and both men and women held a stereotype that men want shorter foreplay and intercourse than the men in the study actually said they wanted. Our guide to foreplay covers that side of things.

How long should a man last before ejaculating?

There's no set time a man should last before ejaculating. BAUS says there's no definition of how long sex should last, and it's up to each couple to decide if they're happy with the time taken. Doctors use time to diagnose premature ejaculation, and even then only alongside other signs.

The International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM) defines premature ejaculation by three things together. The first is time: ejaculation that always or nearly always happens within about 1 minute of vaginal penetration from your first sexual experience (lifelong), or a clear and bothersome drop in time, often to about 3 minutes or less (acquired). The second is being unable to delay ejaculation on all or nearly all occasions, and the third is negative personal consequences, such as distress, bother, frustration or avoiding sexual intimacy. BAUS says a timed latency of one minute or less, occurring more than 75% of the time, is regarded as abnormal.

Very short times are uncommon. In the two five-nation studies, 2.5% of men took less than 1 minute and 6% less than 2 minutes, though the ISSM points out that these figures aren't necessarily the same as rates of lifelong premature ejaculation, because the studies didn't assess distress or how long the pattern had lasted. The NHS says occasional episodes of premature ejaculation are common and not a cause for concern. Our guide to premature ejaculation explains more.

Is 20 or 30 minutes of sex normal?

Twenty or 30 minutes from penetration to ejaculation is well above average. It's several times the median times of 5.4 and 6.0 minutes in the five-nation studies, and the middle half of the sex therapists in the 2008 survey put "too long" at 10 to 30 minutes. The longest times recorded in the two five-nation studies were 44.1 and 52.1 minutes.

Taking a long time can be a problem too. The NHS describes delayed ejaculation as a significant delay before ejaculation or being unable to ejaculate at all, and says you may have it if you're unable to ejaculate more than half the times you have sex. Like premature ejaculation, it says, delayed ejaculation can have psychological and physical causes.

What are the limits of these numbers?

The numbers come from timing vaginal sex between men and women, from penetration to ejaculation, so they leave out foreplay and other kinds of sex, and the EAU guidelines say time alone can't define premature ejaculation. In more detail:

• Who took part. The timing studies measured vaginal sex between men and women. The 2026 European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines note that timing doesn't suit men whose premature ejaculation happens during masturbation, oral sex or anal sex, and that studies disagree on whether men who have sex with men take longer.
• What was timed. Only the time from penetration to ejaculation. Foreplay isn't counted, even though couples in the 2004 study wanted more of it.
• Being timed. A stopwatch could interfere with the natural way people have sex, which is why the 2009 study used a blinded timer; its results were very similar to the stopwatch study.
• Where people live. Medians differed between countries. Turkey had the shortest median in both five-nation studies, and in 2009 the UK had the longest.
• Time alone. The EAU says timing alone isn't enough to define premature ejaculation, because there's significant overlap between men with and without it.

When should you see a GP?

See a GP if finishing too quickly, or not being able to finish, keeps happening and it's a problem for you. The NHS says your GP will discuss it with you and may examine you or refer you to a specialist, and BAUS says your GP may ask you to time the gap between penetration and ejaculation with a stopwatch.

See a GP or go to a sexual health clinic if erection problems keep happening: the NHS says it might be a sign of a health condition that can be treated. Sexual health clinics are free and confidential, and you can find one with the NHS sexual health clinic finder. See a GP, too, if you notice blood in your semen: the NHS says it's usually not serious, but your GP can check whether you need tests or treatment.

If you'd like to last longer, our guides to how to last longer in bed, the stop-start and squeeze techniques and sexual performance anxiety set out what the evidence says.