The analysis, published in Human Reproduction Update, included data collected from just under 43,000 men between 1973 and 2011. Over that 40-year period, the researchers found that sperm counts more than halved in Western countries such as Canada, the US, the United Kingdom, and Australia — where the decline in sperm was most pronounced. Globally, the study authors estimated that the average sperm concentration has decreased to 66.4 million per mL from about 92.8 million per mL, meaning that the average sperm concentration is decreasing by about 0.75 percent each year.
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Story continues below ad But when the researchers selected only Western men who had not yet fathered children, they found an even steeper decline. In 1973, men in this group had an average sperm concentration of 99.0 million per mL, which is higher than the world average at that time. But by 2011, that concentration had dropped to 47.1 million per mL, a decline of 1.4 percent each year. Western men in this demographic also saw the steepest decline in total sperm count, which the researchers found dropped by 59.3 percent since the 1970s. Western fertile men, or men who had known children at the time their sperm samples were taken, saw a similar decline in sperm concentration from an average of 83.8 million per mL in 1977 to 62.0 million per mL by 2009.
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The declines in sperm count were less pronounced in non-Western countries, but the researchers said this may be due to a lack of historical data. Current trend
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The researchers found that the trend of declining sperm count accelerates over time. When the study authors compared data collected worldwide since 1972 against data collected only since 2000, they found that recent sperm concentrations were declining about twice as fast as they once were. Story continues below ad The findings of this study lead lead author Hagai Levine of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to sound the alarm of a possible reproductive crisis.
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“I think this is another message that something is wrong with the world and we need to do something about it. So yes, I think it’s a crisis, that we [had] better to deal with it now, before it reaches a tipping point that may not be reversible,” Levine told The Guardian.
Studies have shown that fertility is compromised when sperm concentrations are lower than 40 million per mL. While this is still lower than the average sperm concentration for Western men, it’s pretty close, meaning there’s a significant portion of men who fall below this threshold. “Such a decline clearly represents a decline in the reproductive capacity of the population,” Levine said.
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But declines in sperm count don’t just affect fertility, experts warn. “Decreasing sperm count can be seen as a ‘canary in the coal mine’ for male health across the lifespan,” according to the study. Story continues below ad The researchers wrote that there were several other alarming trends in male reproductive health, related to testicular germ cell tumors, cryptorchidism (when the testes fail to descend into the scrotum), the onset of male puberty and total testosterone levels. They also pointed to other studies that have shown an association with low sperm count and overall mortality. The study doesn’t have a definitive answer as to what causes this drop in sperm count, but speculated that exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals or maternal smoking during prenatal development could contribute to the problem. The researchers also said that certain lifestyle choices such as smoking, drinking and poor diet, as well as exposure to pesticides during adulthood, can also affect sperm count. 3:00 The effect of underwear on your sperm count Previous Video Next Video © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
