NEW DELHI: When the State Government is planning various devices to control population growth, a recent survey shows that Meghalaya has the highest sales of sex and sexual wellness products and a declined rate of fertility and sterilisation.
The pan-India survey by thatspersonal.com, an online store selling sex and sexual wellness products, offers a fresh insight into the trend and usage patterns in India with tiers II and II cities showing a boom.
Among the tier III towns, Shillong (Meghalaya) tops the list in sale of sex products, followed by Nanded in Maharashtra , Imphal and Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh).
Even the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) released in 2016 showed that West Bengal and Meghalaya are among the states which have seen the highest adoption of condoms, intrauterine devices and oral pills and also a decline in sterilisation, a terminating contraception method that is full of complications, including internal bleeding, infection or damage to other organs.
For small states the capitals were taken as the trend for the states. The survey report was announced on Thursday.
According to the research report, which analysed data from over 80,000 orders, 52 months of internal traffic, customer interactions and surveys, 62 per cent of the buyers of sex toys are men and only 38 per cent are women with some variances.
Lubricants are the favourite sex product of men, while women like intimate massagers best. Other sex products on the most-bought list are delay sprays, lingerie, pleasure rings and sexcitement lotions.
The popularity of sex toys also varies across regions while West Bengal buys most candy panties, Assamese most prefer BDSM (bondage, discipline, domination and submission and sadomasochism) products.
As the government continues to push for new methods of contraceptives to boost family planning, Bengal and Meghalaya have witnessed the highest decline in total fertility rate.
The NFHS 2016 survey had also reported a sharp decline in numbers of women aged 20-24 years who were married before they were 18.
The NFHS-4 of 2015-16, released for 16 Indian states, reveals that Meghalaya recorded a total fertility rate of 3 from the 3.80 recorded during National Family Health Survey-3, a decade earlier for 2005-06.
In the usage of contraceptives, Meghalaya witnessed 7 per cent increase in oral pills usage at 11.70 per cent during National Family Health Survey-4 from 5 per cent earlier.
Sterilisation of women in Meghalaya in National Family Health Survey-4 was 6.20 per cent from 9.50 per cent in National Family Health Survey-3, while the figure for male sterilisation is nil in the last one decade from 0.10 per cent in National Family Health Survey-3.
When it comes to cities, Mumbai buys the most sex products, followed by Delhi but the biggest growth is in tiers II and III cities where sales have increased by 25 per cent in the last 12 months. In tier II cities, Noida buys most sex products, followed by Lucknow, Jaipur, Gurgaon and Chandigarh.
