MODERN life and job fears are turning people off sex - but some of us are getting more action than ever.

A British survey of the sexual habits of more than 15,000 people found those aged 16-44 were having sex fewer than five times a month, the BBC reports.

But the number of women having lesbian ecounters has quadrupled in the past 20 years.

The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles - the biggest in British history - found nearly eight per cent of women had been with female partners, compared with just 1.8 per cent in 1990.

In contrast, the number of men having gay sex has remained stable over the same period at 3.6 per cent, according to the findings published in the Lancet medical journal.

The study's authors say the rise in technology is also proving to have a negative effect on libidos as more people bring smartphones and tablets to bed.

Dr Cath Mercer, from University College London, said: "People are worried about their jobs, worried about money. They are not in the mood for sex.

"But we also think modern technologies are behind the trend too. People have tablets and smartphones and they are taking them into the bedroom, using Twitter and Facebook, answering emails."

The survey found that the rise of the singleton - and the fact that more of us live alone than before - means that people have "less opportunity to have sex".

The average Briton has intercourse less than five times a month, compared with more than six times a month a decade ago.

The study said the drop was explained partly by the fact that more Britons live alone than before, meaning they have 'less opportunity to have sex'.

Professor Kaye Wellings of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which co-ran the study, told Sky News there had been a "remarkable" change in women's sexual behaviour.

'In some areas of sexual behaviour we have seen a narrowing of the gender gap, but in others we have seen women overtaking men in the diversity of their behaviour,' she said.

British women have twice as many sexual partners over a lifetime as they did 20 years ago, the survey says, with the figure now 7.7 on average.