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Researchers Have Finally Figured Out How Big The Average Penis Is

by Sean Levinson

The wait is over: Scientists have finally determined the length of the average penis, and it's probably less than you thought.

British researchers looked at 20 previous penis studies involving a total of 15,521 members, according to NBC News.

Subjects were aged 17 to 91 and had contributed to studies conducted in Europe, Asia, Africa and the US, with the majority of participants hailing from Europe and the Middle East.

The team eventually concluded in their paper "Am I Normal?" that the average penis is 3.6 inches long when flaccid and 5.16 inches long when erect.

In terms of circumference, the average penis measures 3.7 inches around when flaccid and 4.6 inches when erect, according to the Guardian.

Width matters most when it comes to satisfying the opposite sex, says lead author and consultant psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, Dr. David Veale.

Dr. Veale wrote in an email to NBC,

This is because the most sensitive part of the vagina is in the outer regions.

Judging by those statistics, just 2.28 percent of the male population has a penis that could be deemed unusually small while about the same amount has an abnormally large penis, the Guardian reports.

Researchers admitted their findings may be slightly flawed since men who volunteer for such studies are most likely very comfortable with the size of their members.

But their work yielded a graph to incorporate all of the known data on penis length and girth, according to the Guardian, and the team believes this graph could be a vital tool for doctors who deal with men suffering from "small penis anxiety."

Previous research on couples found that just 55 percent of men thought their penises were a satisfactory size even though 85 percent of women reported to be perfectly pleased with the size of their partner's penis.

New York psychiatrist Dr. Madeleine Castellanos told NBC News that it doesn't just take a large penis to satisfy a woman.

She said,

Some men that have a smaller penis size are much more confident in their love making, find different positions or motions that actually give a lot more stimulation than can some men who have large penises.

The ability to arouse a partner, Dr. Castellanos stressed, is far more important than having a long or wide penis.

This study was originally published in the British Journal of Urology.

Citations: Penis Size Study Reveals Average Manhood Length (NBC News), Study reveals average penis size (The Guardian)