About 7.5 percent of adults worldwide experience infertility at some point in their lives, and the rates are comparable across high, middle, and low-income countries.

At least one in six people globally is affected by infertility, according to the latest WHO report. The report, described as the “first of its kind in a decade,” advocates better access to fertility care.

Infertility is a reproductive condition defined by the failure to achieve pregnancy after twelve months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. The report notes that while infertility can affect both men and women, women bear a disproportionate burden, as they are often blamed for infertility and face stigma as a result.

WHO conducted a comprehensive analysis of more than 100 studies on infertility from 1990 to 2021 to compile fresh estimates. The results show that 17.5 percent of adults globally experience infertility at some point in their lives, and the rates are comparable across high, middle, and low-income countries, according to the UN health agency.

The prevalence of lifetime infertility was 16.5 percent in low and middle-income countries and 17.8 percent in high-income countries. Period infertility prevalence was 12.6 percent for high-income countries and 12.6 percent for low- and middle-income countries.

Period and lifetime measures of infertility prevalence both matter since they provide different types of information: Contemporary estimates of period infertility prevalence help countries identify service needs and target resources, whereas estimates of lifetime infertility prevalence provide an understanding of the burden of infertility over people’s lifetime.

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‘An important global public health concern’

The report highlights the severity of infertility as a global public health concern and underlined the urgent need to expand access to prevention, diagnosis, and treatments. WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, emphasized that the report reveals an important truth – infertility affects people across all demographics and social strata, without discrimination.

“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 so that safe, effective, and affordable ways to attain parenthood are available,” said Ghebreyesus.

Ghebreyesus added that since the causes of infertility are varied and typically complex, a wide variety of people, in all regions, may require fertility care.

The ‘medical poverty trap’

WHO says that diagnosis and treatment of inferility such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) remain underfunded.

According to Dr. Pascale Allotey, WHO’s Director of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research, millions of people who seek treatment for infertility frequently fall into a “medical poverty trap” due to the inflated costs of medical care.

Many have no choice but to cover the costs out of pocket, often with devastating consequences. In comparison to people in wealthier countries, those in the poorest countries were shown to spend a much higher percentage of their income on a single IVF cycle or fertility care.

Dr. Gitau Mburu, a scientist within the Contraception and Fertility Care Unit at WHO said there was a clear need to make fertility care services widely available, accessible and affordable given the global magnitude of infertility, and its negative impact on people’s lives and wellbeing,

“Efforts to address infertility should be part of universal health coverage,” Mburu added “This should include financial risk protection to prevent households incurring catastrophic health expenditure on medically assisted reproduction.”

‘Persistent’ lack of data

While the new analysis highlights strong evidence of the high prevalence of infertility around the world, it also reveals a persistent data dearth in many nations and some regions. To help quantify infertility, as well as identify who needs fertility care and how risks can be decreased, it advocates increased availability of national data on infertility that is subdivided by age and cause.

“It is my hope that governments use this report to develop evidence-based policies and adopt proven solutions, as part of their efforts to strengthen health systems to help people fulfill their fertility intentions and live healthier lives,” said WHO Director-General.

Also Read: Uncovering 2 common infertility myths

Author

Zoya Hussain

Zoya has been a journalist for the past 5 years. She is a Thomson Reuters fellow on India's Dual Track Just Transition Training and has also received a Reuters Grant for Reporting on Social Inclusion. She is passionate about socio-political issues, gender, health, caste, class, and the intersection of them all. She has previously published with TRT World, The Indian Express, CNN News18, International Business Times, Times Internet, the logical Indian, and others.
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