WHO : 1 in 6 people is infertile

The report demonstrates that infertility affects all layers of the global population. In other words, the rates are comparable for high-, middle- and low-income countries, the organisation writes in a press release.

The organisation calls for more and better access to fertility treatments. "The sheer proportion of people affected show 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 for those who seek it", the Director-General at the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

According to the World Health Organisation, infertility has a heavy mental impact on those affected. The organisation points out that it can cause significant distress, stigma and financial hardship, affecting people's mental and psychosocial well-being.

Yet, the amount of research lags, the World Health Organisation points out. Many countries do not reimburse treatments, so people have to pay for them themselves. This can even lead to poverty as people spend a lot of money on this type of care.

Assumptions

Recently, statistics have shown that the number of EU citizens continues to decline and will have decreased by 27.3 million people by the end of this century. That is reported by Europa Nu. At the beginning last year, the EU counted about 447 million people, but on January 1, 2100, the number will have decreased to 420 million according to the statistics.

According to Europa Nu, the prognosis is based on a number of assumptions about fertility, death rate and migration. It is expected that more people die than babies are born. That means that the average age of the European population will increase compared to younger age groups.