LONDON, UK — Men and women in western countries certainly claim to hold monogamy in high regard — but they also managed to rack up far more sexual conquests than any other area on the globe. This is among the findings determined by a team of researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.According to the group’s study, which gathered information from 59 countries and appears in the Lancet, although some might expect it to be the number of sexual partners one has, the most influential factors in global relationship and sexuality choices are poverty and mobility, both of which greatly increase the ability of STDs including HIV to reach human hosts.

While monogamy is the dominant proclaimed partnership preference throughout the world, those living in wealthier countries are more likely to have multiple sexual and/or romantic contacts. Ironically, the highest rates of STD infections are in developing countries where promiscuity is less common.

Contrary to popular belief, the study found that teenagers are not experiencing sex at an earlier age than previous and, in fact, that there does not appear to be any global movement toward earlier sexual intercourse than existed three decades ago. The average age of first shared sexual behavior appears to be between 15 and 19 years of age, with men more likely to explore earlier.

Among those men and women in Africa reporting sexual activity during the past year, two-thirds identified as single. This compares to three-quarters of respondents within developed countries.

Professor Kaye Wellings, the report’s author, believes that “This suggests social factors such as poverty, mobility, and gender equality may be a stronger factor in sexual ill-health than promiscuity.”

Wellings hopes that the information will be useful to public health workers looking for better ways to work with their patients. “Men and women have sex for different reasons and in different ways in different settings,” she explained. “This diversity needs to be respected in a range of approaches tailored to whole societies, and to particular groups and individuals within them. The selection of public-health messages needs to be guided by epidemiological evidence rather than by myths and moral stances.”