Logic rejected, they go unprotected and get infected

Danish youths declining to use condoms in record numbers

Mar 15, 2014

Danish youngsters are choosing more and more to not use condoms. Even though they are well aware of the risks involved in having unprotected sex and the numbers of young people with the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia are skyrocketing, a study by Sundhedsstyrelsen, the national health agency, has revealed that nearly half of the nation's young people failed to wear a condom the last time they hooked up with a new partner.

“It is a big problem because sexually transmitted diseases (STD) are widespread in Denmark,” Niels Sando, a consultant with the health department, told DR Nyheder.

“Young people underestimate the risks of unprotected sex – especially the risk of getting a disease.”

It won't happen to me
The survey questioned more than 1,000 men and women between the ages of 18 and 25. Four out of five said that they knew they could contract an incurable STD via unprotected sex, but said that the risk of infection was 'small' or 'very small'.

But one out of every four Danes under the age of 25 has been infected with an STD. About 50,000 young people under the age of 25 are suspected of having chlamydia – twice as many as 20 years ago.

A recent Swedish study revealed that Danes are the poorest among their Nordic counterparts at using condoms. One reason, according to the study, is that Danish youngsters also drink far more alcohol than other Nordic youth.