Study Warns of Possible Reproductive Crisis as Sperm Counts Drop Worldwide

A recent study published in the journal Human Reproduction Update found that the sperm count of men all over the world has been declining fast, even going lower than 50 years ago. This could signal a possible reproductive crisis if action is not taken soon.Show more

Hagai Levine, first author of the research, noted that sperm counts dropped by 1.2 percent per year from 1973 to 2000. From 2000 to 2018, the decline was 2.6 percent per year, “which is an amazing pace,” he said.

The meta-analysis conducted by Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers looked at 223 studies based on sperm samples from over 57,000 men across 53 countries. It suggested that the average sperm concentration fell from an estimated 101.2 million per ml to 49.0 million per ml between 1973 and 2018 – a drop of 51.6 percent. According to the Guardian, the counts fell by 62.3 percent during the same period.

“We don’t understand why we’re seeing this pattern, so I think it’s hard to be alarmist for an individual,” said Dr. Michael Eisenberg, a urologist focused on male fertility and sexual function at Stanford University and Stanford Health Care in California. He was not involved in the study.

However, he pointed out that this should be a wake-up call to try and understand this trend as experts say weak sperm counts could take longer for men to have children. Thus, it can contribute to a possible reproductive crisis.

Meanwhile, the same team reported in 2017 that sperm concentration had declined significantly in the last 40 years. However, a lack of data from other parts of the world at the time meant the findings were focused on a region encompassing Europe, North America and Australia. The latest study included more recent data from 53 countries, and it has seen a massive decrease in Central and South America, Africa and Asia.