Another finding was that fewer than half the young women interviewed who had pre marital sex said they were worried about getting pregnant. For few of them it was because they believed in myths like 'you can't get pregnant if you only have sex once'.

Shockingly, others who had sex with a steady partner thought it didn't matter if they got pregnant because they were going to get married anyway. In fact some even tried to get pregnant on purpose so their parents would more easily agree to a marriage with their boyfriend.

The research also found that young Indians are more likely to use condoms if they have friends they can chat about it with. An unmarried man says "My friends told me how to put on a condom." "They gave it to me after they purchased it from the shop."

The bottom line is in order to guide young unmarried people towards safer sex, some ‘bold and imaginative’ campaigns are needed in India, suggested the authors of the study. Another important conclusion being people need to be able to get hold of condoms more easily, without feeling they're being judged.