The vast majority of people masturbate at some point in their lives. Large-scale surveys consistently find that around 92 to 95 percent of men and 71 to 78 percent of women report having masturbated. These numbers hold across multiple national studies, though exact figures shift depending on the age group surveyed and how the question is asked.
Lifetime Rates for Men and Women
The gender gap in reported masturbation is one of the most consistent findings in sexual health research. The second British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, which included over 11,000 participants aged 16 to 44, found that 95 percent of men and 71.2 percent of women had masturbated at some point in their lives. A separate dataset from Columbia University’s health service puts the numbers at 91 percent for men and 78 percent for women.
Whether this gap reflects actual behavior or comfort with reporting is an open question. Stigma around female masturbation has historically been stronger, and researchers note that women in anonymous surveys tend to report higher rates than women in face-to-face interviews. The real gap likely exists but is probably narrower than the numbers suggest.
How Rates Change With Age
Masturbation typically begins in early adolescence, though the timeline differs significantly between boys and girls. Among boys, reported rates climb steeply: about 8 percent of 9 to 10 year olds, 47 percent of 11 to 12 year olds, and 87 percent of 13 to 14 year olds. For girls, no masturbation was reported before age 13 in the same study, and only 19 percent of 13 to 14 year old girls reported the behavior. On average, boys begin around age 13 and girls around age 15.
Among adolescent boys, frequency increases with age. About 43 percent of 14-year-old boys reported masturbating in the past 90 days, compared to 67 percent of 17-year-old boys. For girls aged 14 to 17, that figure held relatively steady at around 36 percent.
Rates peak during young adulthood and then gradually decline. Older men are more likely to report no masturbation during the previous year compared to younger men. But the behavior doesn’t disappear: a large U.S. survey of nearly 6,000 people aged 14 to 94 found that for people over 70, masturbation was actually more common than partnered sex.
How Often People Masturbate
Frequency varies enormously from person to person, and there’s no medical standard for what counts as “normal.” That said, survey data gives a reasonable picture of typical patterns. Among men aged 18 to 59, about a quarter masturbated a few times per month to once a week. Less than 20 percent masturbated more than four times a week.
Women generally reported lower frequency. Most women in the same survey masturbated once a week or less. The British national survey found that 73 percent of men and about 37 percent of women had masturbated in the past four weeks, which gives a sense of how regularly the behavior occurs across the population at any given time.
Relationship Status and Masturbation
A common assumption is that people in sexual relationships masturbate less, but the data doesn’t fully support this. People with active partnered sex lives do masturbate somewhat less frequently on average, but they don’t stop. In many surveys, people with partners still report regular masturbation. The two behaviors appear to function somewhat independently: masturbation serves different psychological and physical purposes than partnered sex for many people.
Physical Effects on the Body
Orgasm triggers the release of dopamine and oxytocin, hormones that promote feelings of well-being and counteract cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone. This is part of why masturbation is associated with stress reduction and improved mood in the short term.
For men, there’s some evidence of a more specific long-term benefit. One study found that men who ejaculated frequently had a lower risk of prostate cancer, possibly because regular ejaculation prevents the buildup of potentially harmful substances in the prostate gland. The evidence isn’t strong enough to call this a medical recommendation, but it does suggest that regular masturbation is, at minimum, not harmful and may carry some protective benefit.
Sleep is another commonly reported effect. The hormonal cascade that follows orgasm promotes relaxation, and many people use masturbation as a sleep aid, particularly when they have difficulty winding down. There are no documented negative physical effects from masturbation at typical frequencies.