An estimated one in six people worldwide are unable to conceive, the WHO says
RT, 5 Apr, 2023
© Getty Images/onebluelight
Infertility affects one in six people worldwide, the World Health Organization has revealed in a new report. While the WHO could not determine if infertility has increased or decreased, the report comes amid warnings of declining sperm counts worldwide.
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.
Martin comments: There could be a host of reasons, some incidental/accidental, some intentional (depopulation by stealth). It could be that all the factors are valid and play a part. We tend to think of ourselves as seperate from nature and to a degree, we do have more freedom and self-determination than any other lifeform here on Earth, however, to quote Jeff Goldbloom’s character in Jurassic Park, “Nature finds a way”. This could all amount to Mother Nature’s thermostat.
Get your copy from our Online Store or your local book and magazine retailer
Australian Retail Locations » Uncensored Publications Limited
New Zealand Retail Locations » Uncensored Publications Limited
As censorship heats up and free thought becomes an increasingly rare commodity, we appeal to our readers to support our efforts to reach people with information now being censored elsewhere. In the last few years, Uncensored has itself been censored, removed from the shelves of two of our biggest NZ retailers – Countdown Supermarkets and Whitcoulls Bookstores – accounting for 74% of our total NZ sales.
You can help keep the Free Press alive by subscribing and/or gifting a subscription to your friends and relatives.
