Male infertility is 'grossly underreported'

Sperm counts have fallen globally by more than 51% since 1973, and the decline is accelerating. That's according to a 2026 review of studies published in the journal Antioxidants . But men are less likely to get tested than women for infertility. "Male infertility is understated. It is so huge a problem," said Edidiong Akang, a reproductive biologist at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. In a study led by Akang and published in the journal Scientific Reports in 2023, he and his colleagues analyzed semen samples from more than 17,000 men and found that the quality of sperm shape and size (known as sperm morphology) had deteriorated by about 50% between 2010 and 2019.