How often does vaginismus and pain during sex occur

Number of women with vaginismus and pain during sex more than you think?

Maybe you think you are one of the few women suffering from this, because you don't hear or read much about it, and most women don't talk about it. But there is a large number of women suffering from vaginismus and pain during sex. The latest research shows that approximately 1 out of 10 women regularly or constantly experiences pain during intercourse. Amongst young people under 25, approximately half of them regularly or constantly experiences pain during intercourse. These numbers come from two different studies. 

Research on the statistics of pain during sex

Study "Sex under 25" by Rutgers and Soa Aids, The Netherlands:
"Of the girls 12 to 25 years old with some sexual experience (at least having stroked someone at some point), almost half (46%) indicates that they had experienced pain during sex in the past year. For 11%, this (had) happened regularly, often, or every time."
Study "Sexual health in The Netherlands", by Rutgers:
"Of the women 15-70 years old, who had sex during the past 6 months, 4.9% regularly experienced pain during intercourse, and 4.7% experienced vaginismus. With younger women (15-24), this occurs more often: in this age group, 11.5% regularly experiences pain during sex, and 7.9% experiences vaginismus."
NOTE. Vaginismus is being defined here as 'penetration with the penis not possible'. Strictly speaking, vaginismus has a more detailed definition, namely as the inability to experience penetration with whatever means (including a finger or tampon). Our definition is likely to lead to a small overestimation of the prevalence of vaginismus."

Learn more about the causes of pain during sex.