Islington has earned the title of being the riskiest place in England for contracting an STI, with a concerning risk score of 94 out of 100 – nearly double the national average of 50.
This North London borough isn’t just leading the pack overall – it also has the highest rate of genital herpes in England, with 131 cases per 100,000 people, according to a new study from Condoms UK. So, if you’re considering unprotected sex in this area, you might want to think again.
London is unfortunately home to three of the top five riskiest areas, with Islington joined by Archway, Blackpool, and the City of Westminster, all scoring between 88 and 90 out of 100.
Standing out on the list is Westminster, which has the highest rates in England for syphilis (125 cases per 100,000 people), gonorrhoea (749 cases per 100,000 people), and genital warts (135 cases per 100,000 people). The only reason it didn’t cinch the top spot is thanks to its relatively low rate of chlamydia, according to the Daily Star.
Elsewhere, Liverpool takes the crown as the chlamydia hotspot of England. With a staggering one in 50 residents diagnosed, this northern city far exceeds the national average.
On average, 1,564 per 100,000 individuals are infected with chlamydia across England. However, in Liverpool, this number soars to a shocking 2,719 per 100,000 – equating to one in every 50 people.
At the opposite end of the scale, Dudley, a market town in the Midlands, holds the title as England’s safest area for STI prevalence. It has a risk score of just 13 out of 100, which is four times lower than the national average. Joining Dudley in the top five safest areas are Northampton, Bradford, Swindon and Birkenhead, each with risk scores ranging from 17 to 26 out of 100.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the risk index revealed that the average Brit is 22 per cent more likely to contract an STI if they live or engage in sexual activity in a university city. It also shows that the average risk in these student hotspots is 68 out of 100, up by over a fifth on the England average of 50.
As a student-dominated city, London poses the highest risk of catching an STI, with a risk score of 90 out of 100. Following closely are Manchester and Nottingham, with respective risk scores of 84 and 83 out of 100.
While Newcastle and Liverpool topped StudentCrowd’s nightlife rankings, Newcastle has a higher than average STI risk score, of 68 out of 100, which is a significant 33 per cent above the national figure. Leeds, crowned as the UK’s best student city in the same rankings, shares this level of STI risk.
Birmingham, on the other hand, was revealed to be the safest English city for sexually active students. The city boasts the lowest risk score among all university areas, at just 32 out of 100, which is 37 per cent below the national average.
This low score can be attributed to Birmingham having the lowest rate of genital warts in England (26 cases per 100,000 population), along with some of the lowest rates of genital herpes and chlamydia (20 cases and 989 cases per 100,000 respectively). York and Sheffield complete the top three university areas with the lowest STI risk, scoring 35 and 37 out of 100 respectively.
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