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Fewer than half of Britons have sex at least once a week and rates are declining, new data has found.

The steepest declines measured in the research was among over-25s and those who were married or living together.

Researchers analysed data for more than 34,000 men and women between the age of 16 and 44.

Those studied participated in the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles in 1991, 2001 and or in 2012.

The data showed a general decline in sexual activity in Britain between 2001 and 2012.

Overall, the proportion reporting no sex in the past month fell between the first and second surveys: 28.5 per cent to 23 per cent in women and from 30.9 per cent to 26 per cent in men.

But this increased significantly in the final 2012 survey, to 29.3 per cent in women and 29.2 per cent in men.

The proportion reporting sex 10 times or more in the past month increased between the first two surveys: from 18.4 per cent to 20.6 per cent in women and from 19.9 per cent to 20.2 per cent in men, but fell in the final survey to 13.2 per cent in woman and 14.4 per cent in men.

Overall, 41 per cent of men and women had sex once a week or more in the last month, the most recent survey showed, according to the researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Additional reporting by the Press Association