61% of US adults report consuming porn, up from 55% in 2015, according to Barna Group. Use is far more common among men: 44% of US men watched in the past month in 2022, vs 11% of women.
The industry is changing fast. Fans spent $7.22 billion on OnlyFans in a single year, and 27 US states now require porn sites to check visitors’ ages.
In this article, we’ll break down 60 statistics on who watches porn, how often, traffic and searches, the money behind the industry, addiction and health, relationships, public opinion and new laws.
Top Porn Statistics
- 61% of US adults report consuming porn (Barna, 2023).
- 65% of US men looked at porn in the past year in 2022, according to the General Social Survey.
- Fans paid $7.22 billion on OnlyFans in the year to November 2024, and creators received $5.8 billion.
- 27 US states, more than half, require porn sites to verify users’ ages as of October 2026.
- 6.26% of men and 0.72% of women across 42 countries were at risk of problematic porn use (Bőthe et al., 2024).
- 31% of Americans say porn is morally acceptable, down from 43% in 2018 (Gallup, 2026).
- Pornhub.com got about 3.4 billion visits in September 2026, ranking 10th among the world’s websites (Semrush).
- Women made up 38% of Pornhub’s visitors in 2025, up from 23% in 2014, the company says.
- About 4% of the world’s top million websites were porn in 2009–2010 data (Ogas & Gaddam).
How Many People Watch Porn?
1. 61% of US adults report consuming porn (Barna)
That’s up 6 percentage points from 55% in 2015, according to Barna Group’s 2023 survey for Beyond the Porn Phenomenon. Barna is a Christian research firm, and the study was produced in partnership with Pure Desire Ministries.
2. 58% of Americans have ever watched porn, and 27% did in the past month (AEI)
The figures come from the AEI Survey Center on American Life’s March 2022 American Perspectives Survey.
3. 65% of US men looked at porn in the past year (General Social Survey)
Only 43% of men said they saw an “X-rated movie” in the same 2022 survey, which shows how much question wording matters (AIBM).
4. 29% of UK online adults, or 13.8 million people, visited a porn site in May 2024 (Ofcom)
Pornhub alone reached 18% of UK online adults that month, according to Ofcom’s Online Nation 2024 report.
5. 37% of French adult internet users visit adult sites every month (Arcom)
That’s about 17.1 million adults a month in 2022, according to France’s media regulator Arcom.
6. 68.7% of Swedish men and 27.0% of women use porn (Malki et al.)
The figures come from Sweden’s 2017 national sexual-health survey of people aged 16 to 84 (Malki et al., 2021).
Here’s a breakdown of how many people watch porn by country:
| Country | Measure | Share | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Adults who report consuming porn | 61% | 2023 |
| United States | Adults who ever watched | 58% | 2022 |
| France | Adult internet users visiting adult sites monthly | 37% | 2022 |
| United Kingdom | Online adults visiting a porn site in one month | 29% | 2024 |
| United States | Adults who watched in the past month | 27% | 2022 |
Source: Barna; AEI; Arcom; Ofcom
Porn Statistics by Gender
7. 82% of US men and 60% of women have ever watched explicit videos (Herbenick et al.)
That’s a 22-point gap in the 2015 Sexual Exploration in America Study (Herbenick et al., 2017).
8. US men are 4 times as likely as women to have watched porn in the past month (AEI)
44% of men and 11% of women watched in the past month in 2022 (AEI).
9. 43% of UK online men visited a porn site in May 2024, vs 16% of women (Ofcom)
That’s about 10 million men and 3.8 million women, (Telecoms.com). Men made up 72% of the UK’s adult porn audience (Ofcom).
10. 36% of British men watch porn weekly, vs 4% of women (YouGov)
76% of British men and 53% of women have ever watched porn, according to YouGov (2022).
11. Women made up 38% of Pornhub’s visitors in 2025 (Pornhub)
That’s up from 23% in 2014, according to the company’s Year in Review as reported by IBTimes Australia; the 2014 figure was reported by Refinery29. Similarweb’s panel estimates women at just 22.33% of visitors, one reason estimates of how many women watch porn vary so widely.
How Often Do People Watch Porn?
12. About 33% of US men watch porn weekly or more, and 8% daily (Grubbs, Kraus & Perry)
These are our calculations from counts published for 1,016 men in a nationally representative survey of US internet users (Grubbs, Kraus & Perry, 2019).
13. 16% of US men aged 18–39 watch porn daily, vs 7% of women (IFS/YouGov)
The 2024 survey was run by YouGov for the Institute for Family Studies, a socially conservative think tank.
14. 13% of British men watch porn every day or most days (YouGov)
Among women, 2% or fewer in every age group watch that often (YouGov, 2022).
15. UK men spent 1 hour 44 minutes a month on porn sites, vs about an hour for women (Ofcom)
The figures are for May 2024 visitors (Telecoms.com).
16. The average Pornhub visit lasted 9 minutes 33 seconds in 2025 (Pornhub)
87% of Pornhub’s traffic came from smartphones, the company reported (ITC.ua).
Porn Statistics by Age
17. 57% of US men aged 30–49 watched porn in the past month (AEI)
That compares with 44% of men 18–29 and 26% of men 65 and older (AEI, 2022).
18. 62% of British men under 30 watch porn, vs 34% of men 60 and older (YouGov)
25% of men under 30 watch daily or most days (YouGov, 2022).
19. The average age US teens first saw porn online was 12 (Common Sense Media)
15% first saw it at age 10 or younger, according to Common Sense Media (2022).
20. 27% of young people in England had seen porn by age 11 (Children’s Commissioner)
Respondents were aged 16 to 21, and the average age of first exposure in England is 13 (Children’s Commissioner for England, 2025).
Porn Traffic and Website Statistics
21. Pornhub.com got about 3.4 billion visits in September 2026 (Semrush)
Semrush ranks it the 10th most-visited website in the world (Semrush). Similarweb’s estimate is far lower, at about 1.2 billion visits (its period label is unclear).
22. Pornhub’s visits nearly tripled from 2013 to 2019 (Pornhub)
Visits grew from 14.7 billion in 2013 (Il Post, 2013) to 42 billion in 2019, about 115 million a day, the company reported (Il Post). 2019 was the last year Pornhub published a total.
23. 4 adult sites rank in the world’s top 40 websites (Similarweb)
Here’s a breakdown of the largest adult sites by Similarweb’s global rank in September 2026:
| Site | Global rank |
|---|---|
| Pornhub | #22 |
| xHamster | #23 |
| XVideos | #26 |
| Stripchat | #34 |
| XNXX | #42 |
| OnlyFans | #86 |
Source: Similarweb site pages for Pornhub, xHamster, XVideos, Stripchat, XNXX and OnlyFans, September 2026
24. About 4% of the world’s top million websites were porn in 2009–2010 data (Ogas & Gaddam)
Neuroscientists Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam also found that about 13% of web searches were for erotic content, using 2009–2010 data (Gizmodo), still a key data point on how much of the internet is porn. We found no newer study.
25. The US was Pornhub’s biggest source of traffic in 2025 (Pornhub)
Mexico and the Philippines followed, according to the company’s 2025 Year in Review (To Vima).
Porn Search and Category Statistics
26. “Hentai” was Pornhub’s most-searched term for the 5th year in a row in 2025 (Pornhub)
The company reported the ranking in its 2025 Year in Review (Digital Trends Español).
27. Lesbian was Pornhub’s most-viewed category in 2025 (Pornhub)
It moved up 3 places from #4 in 2024 (Tyla).
28. “Hentai” gets about 3.81 million US Google searches a month (Ahrefs)
“Gay porn” follows with about 2.53 million, according to Ahrefs estimates (our query, October 2026).
Porn Industry Statistics
29. Fans paid $7.22 billion on OnlyFans in the year to November 2024 (OnlyFans accounts)
That’s up 9% from $6.63 billion a year earlier, according to the filed accounts of OnlyFans owner Fenix International, as reported by Variety.
30. OnlyFans creators received $5.8 billion, about 80% of fan payments (OnlyFans accounts)
The company kept revenue of $1.41 billion and made a pre-tax profit of $684 million, a margin of about 49% (RTE).
31. OnlyFans had 4.63 million creator accounts and 377.5 million fan accounts (OnlyFans accounts)
The figures are for November 2024 (Variety).
Here’s a breakdown of OnlyFans’ growth from its filed accounts:
| Metric | Year to Nov 2023 | Year to Nov 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Fan payments | $6.63 billion | $7.22 billion |
| Creator accounts | 4.12 million | 4.63 million |
| Fan accounts | 305 million | 377.5 million |
32. OnlyFans revenue reached about $1.55 billion in the year to November 2025 (OnlyFans accounts)
The revenue figure was reported by Forbes via Yahoo Finance. Pre-tax profit rose to about $715 million (Benzinga). The company employs just 47 people (Eastern Eye).
33. A May 2026 stake sale valued OnlyFans at about $3.15 billion (Bloomberg)
Architect Capital bought about 16% for $535 million, weeks after the death of owner Leonid Radvinsky (Bloomberg).
34. Estimates of the global adult entertainment market range from $58 billion to $287 billion (market research)
The top estimate is about 5 times the bottom one, a sign of how weak the methods are (Covenant Eyes, citing market-research firms), and disclosed company figures suggest the porn industry is far smaller than the headline numbers.
35. US porn websites will earn about $2.6 billion in 2026 (IBISWorld)
This is a market-research estimate for the US “Adult & Pornographic Websites” industry (IBISWorld).
36. Pornhub’s owner paid $5 million to settle FTC and Utah charges in 2025 (TechCrunch)
The settlement covered past failures to stop child sexual abuse material and non-consensual content (TechCrunch).
Porn Addiction Statistics
37. 11% of US men and 3% of women agree at least somewhat that they are addicted to porn (Grubbs, Kraus & Perry)
3% of men and 1% of women strongly agree (Grubbs, Kraus & Perry, 2019).
38. 3.2% of adults across 42 countries were at risk of problematic porn use (International Sex Survey)
Men were about 8.7 times as likely as women to be at risk, at 6.26% vs 0.72% (Bőthe et al., 2024).
39. Only 4% to 10% of people at risk of problematic porn use had sought treatment (International Sex Survey)
The share depended on the screening tool (Bőthe et al., 2024).
40. 4% of Australian men and 1% of women who have ever watched porn feel addicted to it (ASHR2)
The figures come from the Second Australian Study of Health and Relationships (Rissel et al., 2017).
41. A 7-day porn break produced no withdrawal-like symptoms in a randomized trial (Fernandez et al.)
The trial randomized 176 university students who use porn to abstain or continue (Fernandez et al., 2023).
Porn and Health Statistics
42. 21.48% of sexually active men aged 18–35 had some degree of erectile dysfunction (Jacobs et al.)
Porn-time quartiles weren’t significantly linked to ED, but each point on a problematic-use scale (CYPAT) was associated with 6% higher odds (OR 1.06) (Jacobs et al., 2021). The study is correlational.
43. A review found only 7 studies on porn and ED and little evidence that porn causes it (Dwulit & Rzymski)
The review covered studies from 2000 to 2019 (Journal of Clinical Medicine).
44. Men who watched more porn had smaller grey matter volume in one brain region (Kühn & Gallinat)
The 2014 study of 64 men was cross-sectional, so the authors couldn’t say whether porn caused the difference (JAMA Psychiatry).
45. A meta-analysis of 50 studies linked porn use to lower satisfaction for men only (Wright et al.)
The studies covered more than 50,000 people in 10 countries, and there was no significant link for women (Wright et al., 2017).
Porn and Relationships Statistics
46. 26% of US adults say watching porn in a relationship is cheating (YouGov)
Porn ranked last of 10 behaviors YouGov asked about in 2014 (YouGov).
47. 1 in 4 partnered US men actively hide their porn use from their partner (Wheatley Institute)
About one-third of married men watch porn alone weekly or daily (Wheatley Institute, 2021).
48. Married people who started watching porn were nearly twice as likely to divorce (Perry & Schleifer)
Predicted divorce probability rose from 6% to 11% between survey waves, an observational link that doesn’t prove cause (Perry & Schleifer, 2018).
Public Opinion on Porn
49. 52% of US adults say viewing porn is morally wrong (Pew)
15% say it’s acceptable and 32% say it’s not a moral issue (Pew Research Center, 2025).
50. 31% of Americans say porn is morally acceptable, down 12 points from 2018 (Gallup)
Acceptance peaked at 43% in 2018 and has fallen in each of the last two years (Gallup, 2026; Gallup trend).
Porn Laws and Age Verification Statistics
51. 27 US states require porn sites to verify users’ ages (RecordingLaw.com)
That’s 54% of states as of October 26, 2026 (RecordingLaw.com), and the full list of porn ban states shows when each law took effect. The Free Speech Coalition’s state table also lists 27.
52. Louisiana was the first state, with its law taking effect on January 1, 2023 (RecordingLaw.com)
The count grew to 6 states by the end of 2023, 15 by the end of 2024 and 25 by the end of 2025 (counting Missouri’s attorney-general rule), by our count of effective dates.
53. The Supreme Court upheld Texas’s age-check law 6–3 on June 27, 2025 (Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton)
The majority applied intermediate scrutiny (Cornell LII), clearing the way for Texas to enforce its age verification law for porn sites.
54. UK visits to porn sites fell by about a third after age checks began on July 25, 2025 (Ofcom)
The estimate comes from Ofcom, as reported by Reuters via Cyprus Mail. Pornhub’s UK audience fell from 11.3 million in August 2024 to 9.8 million in August 2025 (AOL/PA).
55. UK daily VPN users more than doubled, from about 650,000 to over 1.4 million (Ofcom)
Use peaked in mid-August 2025 and fell back to about 900,000 by November (ISPreview).
Here’s a breakdown of how UK online behavior changed after age checks began:
| Measure | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Daily VPN users | About 650,000 (before July 25, 2025) | Over 1.4 million (mid-August peak); about 900,000 (November) |
| Pornhub’s UK audience | 11.3 million (August 2024) | 9.8 million (August 2025) |
| Visits to porn sites | – | Down about a third |
Source: Ofcom, via ISPreview, AOL/PA and Reuters via Cyprus Mail
56. Proton VPN’s UK sign-ups jumped more than 1,400% when age checks started (Proton)
Proton reported the jump after checks took effect on July 25, 2025 (The Register).
57. Ofcom’s largest age-check fine so far is £1.35 million (Ofcom)
The February 2026 fine against 8579 LLC, for having no age checks, was the largest of Ofcom’s fines by July 2026 (Ofcom; Ofcom update). It followed a £1 million fine against AVS Group in December 2025 (Reuters via Cyprus Mail).
58. The EU opened proceedings against 4 porn platforms under the Digital Services Act (European Commission)
Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos were targeted on May 27, 2025 (European Audiovisual Observatory), and fines can reach 6% of worldwide turnover (European Audiovisual Observatory).
What’s in Popular Porn?
59. 45% of Pornhub scenes contained at least one act of physical aggression (Fritz et al.)
Women were the target in 97% of scenes with aggression on Pornhub and XVideos (Fritz et al., 2020).
60. Only 10% of New Zealand’s most-viewed porn videos showed physical aggression (NZ Classification Office)
The lower figure reflects different coding rules and samples (NZ Classification Office, 2019).
Common Porn Statistics Myths
Some of the most-repeated porn statistics have weak or unknown sources. Here’s a breakdown of 6 we checked:
| Claim | Where it comes from | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| “The porn industry is worth $97 billion” | TopTen Reviews estimate for 2006 | No published method; current estimates range from $58 billion to $287 billion |
| “40 million Americans regularly visit porn sites” | 2003 estimate by Internet Filter Review, a filter vendor | No published method |
| “17% of women struggle with porn addiction” | Internet Filter Review, repeated by advocacy groups | Survey data puts it at 3% of US women (agree at least somewhat) |
| “10% of adults admit to internet sexual addiction” | Internet Filter Review (2000s) | No primary survey found |
| “64% of US men watch porn monthly” | 2014 survey for Proven Men, an advocacy group | Reported sample of 388 Christian men; national surveys show 44% to 47% |
| “OnlyFans makes $6.6 billion a year” | Statista, 2024, cited by Covenant Eyes | That was FY2023 fan spending; OnlyFans’ own revenue was $1.41 billion in FY2024 |
Source: Deseret News; ClickZ; Enough Is Enough; ICANN forum post; Covenant Eyes; Women of Grace; eMarketer; RTE
How We Compiled These Statistics
We pooled 1,917 candidate data points from peer-reviewed studies, national surveys (GSS, AEI, YouGov, Pew, Gallup), regulators (Ofcom, Arcom), company filings, court records and analytics panels (Similarweb, Semrush, Ahrefs), and traced each figure to its publisher.
Pornhub figures are company-reported and come from press coverage of its annual reports. OnlyFans figures come from press reports of its UK company filings. Industry-size figures are market-research estimates. Barna, the Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatley Institute are faith-based or socially conservative research groups.
Links between porn use and health or relationship outcomes are mostly correlational. Ratios, percentage-point changes and state counts by year are our own calculations.
Key Takeaways
Most adults have watched porn: 61% of US adults report consuming it, and 65% of US men looked at it in the past year. Men are 4 times as likely as women to watch monthly.
The industry is shifting toward paid creator platforms, with fans spending $7.22 billion on OnlyFans in a year, while 27 US states and the UK now require age checks.
FAQ
How many people watch porn?
61% of US adults report consuming porn, and 58% of Americans have ever watched it. 27% of Americans watched in the past month in 2022.
How much of the internet is porn?
About 4% of the world’s top million websites were porn in 2009–2010 data, and about 13% of web searches were for erotic content. Today, 4 adult sites rank in the world’s top 40 websites.
How big is the porn industry?
Nobody knows for sure. Global estimates range from $58 billion to $287 billion. OnlyFans alone took in $7.22 billion in fan payments in the year to November 2024.
How many people are addicted to porn?
About 3.2% of adults across 42 countries are at risk of problematic porn use, including 6.26% of men and 0.72% of women. 11% of US men agree at least somewhat that they’re addicted.
How many states have porn age-verification laws?
27 US states require porn sites to verify users’ ages as of October 2026, up from 6 at the end of 2023.
About this research
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