GATHERING reliable data on sex is notoriously tricky. Two years ago Durex, a company that makes contraceptives, surveyed more than 300,000 people in 41 countries, asking them about their sexual habits. The intriguing results suggest that Turks are the least faithful to their partners while Israelis are the least likely to stray. On average, around the world, one-in-five people has affairs, with Americans (deterred by the film Fatal Attraction?) and Britons slightly less likely to cheat and the French and the Nordics more likely to do so. Of course, the survey may just as well be a measure of varying levels of honesty in the different countries.

Ronald Grant Archive