Beijing - Youths in China are becoming more open about premarital sex, but their awareness of reproductive health and safe sex remains relatively low, the first-ever extensive nationwide survey on the subject suggests.

About 60 percent of those polled expressed a tolerance of sex before marriage and more than 22 percent had already lost their virginity, according to the survey released Tuesday.

The survey polled more than 22,000 unmarried youths aged 15 to 24 nationwide.