Male infertility alarm: sperm count halved in 40 years

The decline in male fertility is part of an increasingly worrying global picture. The study published in The Lancet in March 2024 by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (Ihme) at the University of Washington estimated that by 2100, 97% of countries will have fertility rates below replacement level (2.1 children per woman).

The global average rate has already dropped to 2.2 births per woman in 2021 and is projected to reach 1.6 by the end of the century, well below the threshold needed to keep the population stable. Europe and Italy in particular are among the hardest hit areas: our country, with a fertility rate of 1.2 children per woman, is among those set to fall further in the coming decades.

"We are facing a disconcerting social change," warns Stein Emil Vollset, coordinator of the study. "While most of the world is facing a shrinking workforce and ageing, other countries, especially in Africa, will experience a baby boom in poverty and fragile health conditions.

Male infertility, therefore, is not a marginal issue, but an indicator of collective and demographic health. Fewer spermatozoa mean fewer natural conceptions and increasing recourse to medically assisted procreation, with high human and economic costs. 'When a couple has difficulty conceiving,' Salonia recalls, 'it is essential to assess male reproductive health as well. This is the only way to intervene in time and improve the fertility prognosis'.

In a world that The Lancet describes as 'cracked in the cradle', with rich countries at risk of depopulation and poor ones still booming, the male sperm crisis also becomes a biological metaphor for society: increasingly struggling to generate a future.