“Demand for sex education is more among urban youth than those residing in the rural areas as the urban youth are socially and economically better off, they are better educated and have greater awareness of various sources of information including mass media. The urban youth understand the importance and awareness of sex education to their life,” she said.

THE STUDY

IIPS undertook the household-based survey in six states — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh — from January 2006 to take forward the 10 thematic issues raised in a worldwide study conducted by the UN. Over 1.5 lakh households were interviewed.

There were 300 primary sampling units from each of the states, with 150 units each from urban and rural areas. And each of the units surveyed had 75 men and an equal number of women. For the study, 25,641 households were interviewed in Maharashtra, 37,893 in Tamil Nadu, 28,258 in Jharkhand and 28,585 in Bihar. Youth in the 15-24 years age group were divided into four categories of married males (MM), married females (MF), unmarried males (UM) and unmarried females (UF). The fact sheets for Rajasthan will be ready soon and that of Andhra Pradesh by April 2008.