Research on pornography comes out every year, and 2014 was no exception.
Overall, the trends were predictable: more people are watching porn, and more porn is available now than ever before. Still, when you drill into the details, we found some disturbing trends.
Get all the sources for our statistics in our full report.
1. Christians watch a lot of porn.
According to a survey among Christians conducted by the Barna Group in the U.S. in 2014, Christians using porn is still a widespread problem:
- 64% of self-identified Christian men and 15% of self-identified Christian women view pornography at least once a month
- 37% of Christian men and 7% of Christian women view pornography at least several times a week
- 39% of Christian men and 13% of Christian women say they believe their use of pornography is “excessive”
- 21% of Christian men and 2% of Christian women say they think they might be “addicted” to pornography or aren’t sure if they are
2. Porn use is on the rise among young men.
According to the same Barna survey above, the following percentages of men say they view pornography at least several times a week:
- 50-68 year-olds: 25%
- 31-49 year-olds: 38%
- 18-30 year-olds: 63%
3. Porn use is on the rise among young women.
According to the same survey, pornography use among women is also on the increase. The following percentages of women say they view pornography at least several times a week:
- 50-68-year-olds: 0%
- 31-49-year-olds: 5%
- 18-30-year-olds: 21%
Moreover, 25% of married women say they watch porn at least once a month, compared to 16% of unmarried women.
The world’s largest porn website (no, I won’t tell you what it’s called) also reported that, globally, 23% of online porn’s viewers are female.
4. Porn use correlates to brain shrinkage.
In a study conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, researchers found the more hours of porn someone consumes, there’s a smaller volume of grey matter in their brain, and less connectivity between their striatum and the prefrontal cortex—similar to what is observed in drug addicts. Researchers said that it seems pornography actually dulls the reward system of the brain.
5. Brains of porn users are like the brains of alcoholics.
In a couple papers published last year, Cambridge neuroscientists compared the brains of those with compulsive sexual behaviors to the brains of otherwise healthy subjects using MRI scans. Key areas of the brain that are involved in anticipating rewards and processing the significance of events and emotions “lit up” when looking at porn—the same way as an alcoholic’s brain does on seeing a drink advertisement.
6. Mobile porn has surpassed desktop.
According to the world’s largest porn website (again, no, I’m not telling you what it is), when you compare desktop, phone, and tablet access, tablet-accessed porn grew to 11% of the traffic and phone-accessed porn grew to 45% of the traffic. This means 2014 was the year when mobile access to porn surpassed desktop.
According to Juniper Research, by 2017, a quarter of a billion people are expected to be accessing mobile adult content from their phones or tablets, an increase of more than 30% from 2013. Mobile adult video chat alone will have a compound annual growth rate of 25%.
7. Game system access to porn is growing.
Last year, according to the same porn website, access to porn increased on every major game console except Playstation.
- There was a 11.8% increase in traffic to porn from Nintendo 3DS,
- a 57.3% increase from PS Vita,
- a 69.6% increase from Nintendo Wii,
- and a 70.5% increase from Xbox.
8. Porn use at work is still high.
According to the Barna survey last year…
- 63% of adult men have looked at pornography at least one time while at work in the past 3 months.
- 38% of adult men have done so more than once.
- 36% of adult women have looked at pornography at least one time while at work in the past 3 months.
- 13% of adult women have done so more than once.
9. Incest is gaining traction.
On the world’s largest porn site, the search terms “step sister” and “step mom” each saw a 132% and 94% popularity increase, respectively, from the year before.
“Step mom” is now the 4th most popular porn search term worldwide.
10. Teen-themed porn is #1.
Around the globe, “teen” was the most searched for term in both 2013 and 2014. This has been a major trend in sexual media for decades: the pornifying of youth.
If you want to read 250+ more statistics about pornography, download our complete 2015 Annual Report.
None of these statistics surprise me and I personally think they are a lot higher, but also, there is much bigger fish to fry than the porn issue. The bottom line is people love sex and looking at good looking people. This will never ever change. This is what human beings are about. What are the biggest drives in a human? To live, eat, and reproduce. We are hardwired for these things and all we do in life is geared towards making that happen. It just is what it is. But really? Why does this surprise anyone? I think one thing we never talk about is the boredom factor. People are just bored with life. For many people, life has no meaning. You wake up, go to work, go home, eat, watch a little TV, and go to bed. This gets immensely boring and people look for excitement. Porn is exciting. Then if you have a spouse who is out of shape or not having sex with you, that is even more motivation to look at porn. I completely understand everyone looking at teenage girls in porn. Teenage girls are in much better shape than most women. Obesity has really impacted America. Then, the teenage girls really don’t look teenage. They aren’t climbing trees like when I was little!!! These girls are wearing g-strings and stilettos. I would love it if everyone had a perfect life. They were married to a gorgeous spouse, had wonderful kids, no worries, and life was exciting. But that is just not life. It is not reality. Life is hard and lonely and cruel. People want to escape that. You see that everywhere…. from the abuse of alcohol to food to drugs to porn. Christ should never have left and for the life of me, I do not know why he did. Porn is just a symptom. That is all it. It isn’t the problem.
Thanks for the comment. The reason for the article (in case you were wondering) was not to say that these stats are surprising but that they are sad downward trends that should worry us.
For sure, porn is a symptom of much larger problems—I agree with you there. For instance, you are correct that boredom is a factor. People of many ages, especially times of greater disposable time and income, have gotten lost in various amusements and diversions, and porn is one of the big amusements of the age. You hit the nail on the head when you wrote, “For many people, life has no meaning. You wake up, go to work, go home, eat, watch a little TV, and go to bed. This gets immensely boring and people look for excitement.”
I think this is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer meant when he said, “The pursuit of purity is not about the suppression of lust, but about the reorientation of one’s life to a larger goal.” I agree with him wholeheartedly. Cut off from real purpose, our souls tend to shrink to the size and quality of our pleasures. Men and women learn to find “life” going from one buzz to the next. But connected with a deeper purpose, life can be truly fulfilling. I hear it every day from men and women who finally begin to experience the joy of their Christian faith, where they leave porn behind not primarily out of a sense of duty but because it seems like a paltry pleasure compared to the satisfaction they find in Christ.
Yes, people have always loved good sex and looking at beautiful people, but it takes a mind (and culture) of objectification that turns those drives into something twisted. The solution to porn is not stress-free lives filled with great sex and gorgeous partners. The solution to porn is the elimination of sin that creates a mindset of objectification. I can say this because of the countless men and women who have lives sacrificially for gospel, often throwing themselves in harms way and living away from the pleasures of sex, and have found joy and purpose and freedom from habitual lust. I can say this because Christ, who lived a perfect life, lived surrounded in poverty and suffering, never had sex, and yet never lusted. This is the ideal we shoot for. No, we don’t arrive at a lust-free existence in this life, but empowered by Christ’s Spirit, we can move steadily in the right direction, and some day, Christ will make us completely like Himself.
“Then if you have a spouse who is out of shape or not having sex with you…” Oh my! Please don’t load any more guilt onto wives who are already shattered by porn use. They’re struggling to keep their heads above water raising children, caring for elderly parents, answering church ministry requests, AND more. “Porn is exciting.” Now I think we’ve got a troll in our midst. “Gorgeous spouse” Are you, sir, prince charming? WOW, just WOW.
These are great stats. Thank you for posting. I’m going to put a link in my blog pointing to your post. Another problem is the link to marital infidelity. That’s what my wife and I are being restored from. Here is our story – http://forgivencheater.blogspot.com/2015/01/intro-to-me-forgiven-cheater.html
Ummmm…pretty sure there aren’t “bigger fish to fry” than this issue. There are other stats that aren’t listed here. This has become a public health & safety issue. Pornography encourages violence against women and children. Rape rates have increased. Average age of hardcore porn exposure is 11. Children can easily access porn and have a tendency to act out these images on younger, smaller, and more vulnerable children. Pornography also encourages pedophilia and beastiality. Pornography is destructive, disgusting, exploitation of women and children. Divorce rates are increasing, marriage rates are decreasing because “self-sex” is on the rise – people prefer masturbation over real life relationships. We are setting our youth up for having severe psychological problems and relationship problems
“Christians watch a lot of porn”
And sad to say, but until the church starts addressing (from the pulpit on down) numerous issues surrounding sexuality biblically, it’s going to get a whole lot worse…
For sure. I’m glad to hear of more and more churches doing this.
I like that you didn’t name the porn web site. I’ve noticed most articles mention the site, to me that is a temptation to anyone having trouble with porn and is looking for more info on your site. I love that you did that. Keep up the good work. God Bless You.
We walk a fine line with our topics here, and we’re glad when we walk it well. Thanks!
I stumbled upon your site. It is interesting. I think America is in denial as to what it really is. There are millions of women doing some form of porn in America. Millions and that is no exaggeration. These women are not being forced either. Then I look at incarceration and millions of Americans are arrested every year. It is clear that America is nothing but a police state. When one country has 1/3 of the world’s prisoners, that should scare that country to death. Then there is 9/11 and most Americans are fooling themselves about that. It is clear the official story of 9/11 is garbage. The evidence is overwhelming the American people are being lied to. I am not a conspiracy theorist either, but the evidence is so overwhelming that it cannot be ignored. America better wake up and see what it really is before it is too late. I just wonder if the bible foretells of all of this or is this just the way human beings are? Christ should have never left this world and I often wonder why he did.
I have to remind myself to keep an open mind when I read loaded articles like this one.
“Porn use correlates to brain shrinkage” not going to bother citing where you got this?
– Don’t worry I found it, and out of entire book you took that..
Porn is on the rise… WHYYYY? are people more depressed, less socially adapted, is it just a basic human need?
If its ok, then is it not ok to your mind and body?
Personally my own opinion is that porn is on the rise mainly because it has become so readily available.
I remember getting a “Zoo” mag when I was younger, man did I feel awkward as f*** when the little old lady scanned it, looked at me and put it in the bag.
Those days are gone.
Isn’t that the more interesting question?
If your focusing on the result of a problem, good luck trying to understand it.