Doctors find that Russians are having less sex because of the economic crisis

Thanks to the country's economic crisis, Russians are now having sex less often, according to Dr. Nikolai Kirbrik, the director of the Sexopathology Department at Helmholtzeye Institute. “People have started worrying more about their financial situations, focusing on activities more vitally important to their lives than things like their sexual health,” Kirbrik told the radio station RSN.

Kirbrik has also found that Russia's economic woes increase the frequency of tensions between spouses, as well as issues with gender identity. “The problems have become more vital: disharmony in the family, transsexuality, transgender disorders. Transexuals changing their gender on their passports, changing the structure of life. This is the kind of thing now worrying some patients,” the doctor explained.

Kirbrik isn't the only Russian doctor reporting a growing interest in transsexuality among Russians. According to St.-Petersburg-based sexologist Dmitry Isaev, there are more and more such Russians every year. (He says the transgender population grows 14 percent annually, which is the international norm.)

Lev Shcheglov, the president of the National Institute of Sexology in Moscow, also confirmed to RSN that Russians have sex less often during hard economic times. “The human organism is built for survival,” Shcheglov said, explaining that love-making takes a back seat, when people are struggling to put food on the table.