overview
The Health Behaviour of School-Age Children (HBSC) survey is a large-scale school-based survey conducted every four years in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Europe. HBSC data are used at national/regional and international levels to gain new knowledge about adolescent health and well-being, understand the social determinants of health, and inform policies and practices to improve young people's lives. The 2021/2022 HBSC survey data is accompanied by a series of volumes summarizing key findings on specific health topics. This report, the fifth in the series, focuses on adolescent sexual health using original HBSC evidence on the sexual health of 15-year-old adolescents from 42 countries and territories in Europe, Central Asia and Canada (two of the 44 countries and territories surveyed were unable to collect data on sexual behaviour). The survey describes adolescents' current sexual health by analysing adolescents' sexual initiation, contraceptive and condom use (or non-use) at last sexual intercourse, the role of gender, age and social inequalities, and how adolescent sexual behaviour has changed over time. The 2021/2022 HBSC Survey results will provide an important evidence benchmark for current research, intervention and policy development.
