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Published on Tuesday, the report stated that as of 2022, 17.5% of the global population experienced infertility at some point in their lives. To arrive at that figure, WHO researchers analyzed more than 130 separate studies from 1990 to 2021, and found similar results across the world.
The average lifetime prevalence of infertility in high-income countries was 17.8%, compared to 16.5% in low- and middle-income countries.
"The report reveals an important truth: infertility does not discriminate," WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. "The sheer proportion of people affected shows the need to widen access to fertility care and ensure this issue is no longer sidelined in health research and policy."
Dr. Pascale Allotey, director of the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research Department at the WHO, described the findings as "staggering."
Infertility is defined by the WHO as an inability to conceive a child after one year of regular unprotected sex.
The study did not list any common factors behind the one-in-six figure. However, for both women and men, smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity have all been linked to lower fertility. Age plays a role too, with women becoming less fertile from their mid-30s onwards, and male fertility falling from around 40.
The report also did not identify whether infertility rates have increased or decreased in the time period studied. However, a landmark study published last November found that male sperm counts have fallen by 62% in the last 50 years. Average sperm counts have dropped from 104 to 49 million per milliliter, just above the threshold of 40, below which infertility is likely.
Like the WHO's report, the sperm count study found similar results across different regions. Although it declined to speculate on what was causing the drop, other research has identified exposure to certain plastics and chemicals as the culprit, alongside the same dietary and lifestyle factors that cause infertility in both genders.
Reader Comments
Theyll be here before long.
You might want to read René Spitz [Link] and John Bowlby [Link] before cheerleading for such a future for humanity.
Jk. But for real tho.. wtf
Or perhaps, a few billion toxic S1 spikes growing on the surface of most cells in the ovaries and testes isn't a good thing?
Just noodling.....
As others have noted: pesticides, herbicides, "vaccines", food additives, soy, insects as food, don't eat meat, meat is bad for the environment. Gee, I wonder if the covid-19 vax is causing any problem as the "spike protein" targets the gonads among other systems?
Now they are saying that beef will be injected with mRNA shots? Is this a scare narrative to get us to not eat beef? My vote is support local farmers and get produce from them if you can.
The U.S. government has been forced to release a controversial draft review that confirms previous studies which found exposure to fluoride at high levels can reduce IQ in children.