When it comes to sex, us Europeans learnt about the birds and the bees from a variety of sources.

That's the results of a survey conducted for Bayer Schering Pharma, which found that only 35 per cent of Irish adults learnt about it in the classroom, in comparison to 70 per cent of Finns, reports Ireland.com.

More than half of Irish adults learned about sex from their pals.

The study also explored sexual experience level, sexual behaviour and general attitudes to sex and contraception in a variety of countries, including Ireland.

Over half of those polled between the ages of 18 and 44 years in the country admitted to having had an average of eight sexual partners in their lifetime (with nine for men and seven for women). This compared to an average of seven across Europe while 56 per cent also admitted to having sex for the first time without using contraception.

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