by Annette Chan

 

While abstinence-only education was the norm for previous generations in many countries and regions, UNESCO and WHO now advocate for comprehensive sexuality education (CSE), which teaches not just the physical but also the cognitive, emotional, and social aspects of sexuality. However, attitudes towards sex — and by extension sex education — vary widely between cultures, depending on social mores, religion, and myriad other factors. So, how and when is sex education taught across the globe?

 

Hong Kong

Sex education is not part of the formal curriculum; rather, the government recommends that schools embed it across subjects such as Biology and Liberal Studies as they see fit.

This approach has been criticised by NGOs and politicians as inadequate, especially following the Equal Opportunities Commission’s Study on Comprehensive Sexuality Education in Secondary Schools of Hong Kong in 2022, which reported that 59.1% of schools did not cover sexual consent and 13.8% of schools did not teach sex education at all. Instead, external organisations play a major role, with over 90% of schools inviting them to deliver sex education in the 2018/19 school year.

Most schools focus on the biological aspects of sex or puberty , while sexual violence, sexual orientation, informed consent, and digital literacy are often unaddressed.

 

Taiwan

In Taiwan, sex education shifted from an abstinence-based model following the introduction of the Gender Equity Education Act in 2004 to cover contraception, STI and STD prevention, gender equality, and sexual diversity. Sex education is integrated into different subjects in elementary and junior high school, with four hours mandated per term.

However, a sharp increase in child exploitation cases in the last decade and 2023’s MeToo movement have highlighted the gap between Taiwan’s public policies and reality. A 2025 survey of Taiwanese elementary school students found that 53.4% had forgotten their sex education, and the majority of parents were unwilling to discuss sex and gender openly at home due to social stigmas.

In February 2026, a trio of civil groups advocating for sex education urged the government to rehaul its sex education guidance to address power dynamics, dignity, and grooming.

 

Chinese Mainland

Sex education in the Chinese Mainland has gradually developed through policy reforms. In 2002, the Population and Family Planning Law of the People’s Republic of China marked the first time sex education was written into law. This was followed by the State Council’s Outline for the Development of Children in China (2011–2020), which explicitly called for incorporating sex and reproductive health education into the compulsory education curriculum.

In October 2020, the revised Law on the Protection of Minors further strengthened this framework by formally including sex education and requiring schools and kindergartens to provide age-appropriate sex education .

In practice, sex education in most primary and secondary schools is delivered through an “integrated” approach rather than as a standalone subject. Some developed regions, including Beijing and Shanghai, have begun experimenting with standalone courses or thematic lectures that offer more comprehensive content.

According to UNESCO’s findings on sexuality education implementation in Chinese middle schools in 2019, school-based programmes tend to focus on traditional topics such as puberty-related physical and psychological development, HIV/AIDS prevention, and relationships, while giving comparatively less attention to issues such as gender identity, sexual orientation, sexual behaviour, power dynamics, and contraception.

 

Japan

Similarly, Japan’s sex education is integrated into subjects such as science, home economics, and physical education. Upon its introduction to the national curriculum in the late 1980s, on the heels of the AIDS crisis and the country’s declining birth rate, sex education was taught through a public health lens.

In 1998, backlash from conservative groups led the government to introduce a “restriction clause” barring middle schools from teaching “the process leading to pregnancy”. While upper-secondary school students learn about the biology of reproduction, a combination of curricular restrictions, abstinence culture, and teachers’ fear of negative consequences has yielded inconsistent knowledge among Japan’s youth about consent, sexual health, gender equality, and sexual violence.

Though high schoolers are increasingly chaste — with 77.2% of boys surveyed in 2024 saying they’ve never kissed anyone — Japan has seen an “unprecedented increase” in syphilis cases since 2021, which medical experts attribute in part to insufficient education.

 

Australia

Australia takes a comprehensive approach towards sexuality education, with age-appropriate sex concepts included in the national syllabus from kindergarten to year 12. Kindergarteners are taught the names and functions of body parts, while primary school students learn about reproductive health, puberty, and bodily autonomy. Secondary school sex education introduces conception, pregnancy, sexual behaviours, contraception, and STI prevention before culminating in complex topics like relationships, consent, and intimacy.

In 2022, Australia mandated consent education , which includes topics like sexual coercion, power imbalances, and gender stereotypes, while state governments also provide resources about digital intimacy and intimate image laws to various extents. However, implementation varies across states and schools, and a 2024 report suggested that some teachers had focused too much on consent and neglected other equally important aspects of sex education. A 2018 survey of Australian sex education teachers found issues such as transphobia, teen parenting, abortion, sex acts other than intercourse, and sexual pleasure were less commonly covered.

 

United Kingdom

Historically, the UK had only mandated education about reproduction and HIV/AIDS prevention, though schools could develop more comprehensive sexuality education beyond the national curriculum. In the 2010s, educators and parliamentary committees lobbied for statutory Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in an effort to safeguard children through preventive education and provide a more enhanced and balanced understanding of relationships, sex, and health.

Though terminology varies between jurisdictions, RSE is now compulsory for secondary schools in England, and all students of compulsory school age in Wales and Northern Ireland. Official guidance recommends including LGBTQI topics, menstrual wellbeing, sexism, sexual harassment and abuse, mental health, and online safety. In Scotland, RSE is taught at the discretion of schools, though the government provides official guidelines.

RSE is highly politicised, with teachers’ unions and NGOs criticising the parental right to withdraw children from classes, as well as “faith-based carve-outs” which enable academies and religious schools to adapt material according to their beliefs. In Wales, however, all schools are legally required to teach RSE in a “neutral, factual way”, and parents do not have the right of withdrawal.

 

The Netherlands

With one of the lowest abortion rates in the world, the Netherlands is often held up as an example of how effective open and comprehensive sexuality education can be. While sex education is typically integrated into subjects like biology, citizenship education, or sociology, it is compulsory.

Education begins early , with primary school students learning about bodies, personal boundaries, crushes, consent, and respect in class. In secondary school, students learn about falling in love, relationships, sexuality, gender, pregnancy, social media, safe sex, and assertiveness.

Open discussions around sex and relationships are normalised and framed as a natural part of development. Rutgers, the national centre of sexual health and safety, holds two annual events in schools across the country: Spring Fever Week for primary schools and Week of Love for secondary schools. During these events, participating schools hold at least one age-appropriate sex education class a day for students.

 

Sweden

One of the pioneers of comprehensive sexuality education, Sweden mandated sex education on a national level in 1955, becoming the first country to do so . Like other Nordic countries, Sweden is considered to have a robust sex education programme, with a strong emphasis on autonomy, communication, health, and pleasure.

Though sex education was historically the purview of Biology teachers, there has been a shift towards incorporating aspects such as sexual norms, discrimination, gender equality, and power structures more broadly across subjects following curriculum reform in the late 2010s. Topics such as digital sex culture and exposure to pornography have been increasingly taught to reflect the nuances of sex in the digital age.

The country’s safe sex habits are reflected in the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU)’s annual Condom Control report, which showed that Swedes have the highest rate of condom usage among Nordic countries at 42%. Outside its own borders, Sweden also promotes the adoption of comprehensive sexuality education by funding UNESCO’s efforts to train teachers and strengthen curriculum-based education in sub-Saharan Africa.

 

United States

Under the United States federal system, where governance is dictated at the state level, sex education is very fragmented and varies widely from state to state . Like in the UK, sex education is highly politicised, with comprehensive sexuality education being associated with liberal states, while conservative states practise an abstinence-based approach.

Of the 50 states in the US, 26 require sex education to be medically accurate, and eight states mandate LGBTQI-inclusive sex education. In these areas, educators are required to provide evidence-based instruction on contraception, pregnancy, and sexual health. However, some conservative states, such as Alabama, Oklahoma, and Texas, even go so far as to give conservative groups approval over teaching materials, while instructing students that being queer is “not acceptable”.

Interestingly, a 2023 survey of parents across different political and religious affiliations showed that when asked about specific topics — i.e. STI/STD prevention, how to deal with pressure to have sex, the meaning of gender — instead of whether they prefer CSE or abstinence, most parents were generally in support of sex education. ■

 

 

References: 

Comprehensive sexuality education: For healthy, informed and empowered learners https://www.unesco.org/en/health-education/cse

Hong Kong

Taiwan

Chinese Mainland

Japan

Australia

UK

NL

Sweden

USA