'Global issue': 1 in 6 people worldwide affected by infertility, WHO report finds

For millions of couples around the world, conceiving a child can be agonisingly difficult, when hopes of starting a family are quashed by one negative pregnancy test after another.

Around one in six people worldwide face infertility at some point in their lives, according to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) which shows no continent is better off.

“This is a global issue affecting people in all countries and in all walks of life,” Dr Gitau Mburu, a fertility scientist at WHO, told reporters.

The health agency defines infertility as “a disease of the male or female reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse”.

Previous estimates suggest that between 48 million couples and 186 million people live with infertility globally. WHO did not update these estimates in its report, and said the data it had analysed, covering 1990 to 2021, did not allow it to determine a trend.

“Based on the data we have, we cannot say that infertility is increasing or constant. The jury is still out on that question,” said Dr James Kiarie, WHO’s Head of Contraception and Fertility Care.

The report also found the prevalence of infertility varies little from one geographical region to another. The lifetime prevalence of infertility - the share of a population who ever experienced it in their life - was 17.8 per cent in high-income countries and 16.5 per cent in low and middle-income countries.

The report shows “infertility does not discriminate,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the report’s foreword.

Struggling to conceive can also have wide-reaching repercussions on the lives of people affected, from anxiety and depression to