Infertility and mental health statistics worldwide

Updated October 2026

Depression and anxiety are common among people with infertility, women ^{1 2} and men ^{3 4}. A review in Fertility Research and Practice combined, or pooled, the results of studies from many countries ¹. In those from low- and middle-income countries, 44.3% of infertile women had depression symptoms ¹.

The same review found higher rates in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income ones ¹. Rates also depend on how each study measured symptoms. Each figure below names the people it counts and, where a study has one, the place. IVF, or in vitro fertilisation, is treatment in which doctors fertilise eggs outside the body.

Getting help

If something on this page reflects what you are going through, you do not have to manage it alone. Our guide to finding the right therapist explains how to choose someone qualified, and the TherapyRoute directory lists therapists in many countries.

If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, our list of helplines and crisis lines worldwide gives free services by country. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.

Women

Reviews that pool many studies give the broad picture for women ^{2 6}. Major depressive disorder is the medical name for clinical depression. Generalised anxiety means constant, hard-to-control worry about many things.

• In pooled studies, 36.2% of infertile women had anxiety symptoms. (pooled from prevalence studies, published 2020, study years not stated) ²
• Across forty-four studies worldwide, 22.9% of infertile female patients had major depressive disorder. (pooled from prevalence studies, published 2024, study years not stated) ⁶
• Across forty-four studies worldwide, 13.3% of infertile female patients had generalised anxiety. (pooled from prevalence studies, published 2024, study years not stated) ⁶
• In pooled studies from low-resource settings, 48.8% of women with infertility had depression. (pooled from prevalence studies, published 2025, study years not stated) ⁷
• Among women in couples undergoing IVF at a fertility clinic in Sweden, 10.9% had major depression, compared with 5.1% of the men. (survey, at one point in time, published 2008, fieldwork year not stated) ⁵

Men

Fewer studies include men, but many infertile men have depression or anxiety too ^{3 5 4}.

• In pooled studies, 21.4% of infertile men had anxiety symptoms. (pooled from prevalence studies, published 2024, study years not stated) ⁴
• Among men attending a fertility clinic for IVF with their partners in Sweden, 10.2% had a psychiatric disorder on a diagnostic questionnaire. (survey, at one point in time, published 2008, fieldwork year not stated) ⁵

Mental health care at fertility clinics

In one Swedish fertility clinic, most people with a mental health condition got no treatment for it ⁵.

• Among women and men in couples undergoing IVF at a fertility clinic in Sweden who had a psychiatric disorder, only 21% were receiving any treatment for it. (survey, at one point in time, published 2008, fieldwork year not stated) ⁵

Country figures

These figures come from single clinics, regional samples and national surveys, using different questionnaires and interviews. Read each with its label and do not rank them. The ICD is the World Health Organization's classification of diseases; the Iraq figure used its tenth revision. Endometriosis is a condition in which tissue like the lining of the womb grows outside the womb. Primary infertility means difficulty conceiving a first child; secondary infertility means difficulty conceiving again after an earlier pregnancy.

How common infertility is

Many people experience infertility at some point ^{16 17}.

• In a nationally representative sample of people aged thirty to forty-four in Finland, about 20% of women and 9% of men had experienced infertility. (survey, lifetime (ever), published 2010, fieldwork year not stated) ¹⁶
• In a sample of 2,668 women aged eighteen to forty-five in the United States, 11.4% had experienced infertility. (survey, 2013-2018 data) ¹⁷

How to read these figures

Most studies used symptom questionnaires, which point to a probable condition, not a diagnosis.

Many samples come from fertility clinics, so they describe people already in treatment and may not match people with infertility who have not sought care.

If infertility is affecting your mood or your relationship, a counsellor or therapist can talk it through with you. Our guide on finding the right therapist explains how to choose someone qualified.

Cite this page: TherapyRoute. Infertility and mental health statistics worldwide. https://www.therapyroute.com/article/infertility-and-mental-health-statistics-worldwide-by-therapyroute. Last updated 26 October 2026.

References

1. [1] The prevalence of depression symptoms among infertile women: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Fertility research and practice (Kiani Z et al.), 2021 europepmc.org.
2. [2] The prevalence of anxiety symptoms in infertile women: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Fertility research and practice (Kiani Z et al.), 2020 europepmc.org.
3. [3] Prevalence of depression in infertile men: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC public health (Kiani Z et al.), 2023 europepmc.org.
4. [4] Prevalence of anxiety symptoms in infertile men: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC public health (Simbar M et al.), 2024 europepmc.org.
5. [5] Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in infertile women and men undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment. Human reproduction (Oxford, England) (Volgsten H et al.), 2008 europepmc.org.
6. [6] Global prevalence of major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety, stress, and depression among infertile women: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Archives of gynecology and obstetrics (Salari N et al.), 2024 europepmc.org.
7. [7] Prevalence and contributing factors of depression among women with infertility in low-resource settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in medicine (Tadesse S et al.), 2025 europepmc.org.
8. [8] Depression and anxiety among Polish infertile couples--an evaluative prevalence study. Journal of psychosomatic obstetrics and gynaecology (Drosdzol A et al.), 2009 europepmc.org.
9. [9] Depression among infertile women in Basrah, Iraq: Prevalence and risk factors. Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA (Al-Asadi JN et al.), 2015 europepmc.org.
10. [10] Prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder and its related factors among infertile patients in Iran: a cross-sectional study. Health and quality of life outcomes (Omani-Samani R et al.), 2018 europepmc.org.
11. [11] Prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress disorder among women affected by infertility in Ethiopia. Discover mental health (Esubalew D et al.), 2025 europepmc.org.
12. [12] Prevalence of Depression Among Infertile Women at Center for Fertility and Reproductive Medicine in Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study. Health science reports (Beyene Z et al.), 2025 europepmc.org.
13. [13] Prevalence of anxiety and its associated factors among infertile patients after 'two-child' policy in Chongqing, China: a cross-sectional study. Reproductive health (Gui W et al.), 2021 europepmc.org.
14. [14] Endometriosis in infertile women: an observational and comparative study of quality of life, anxiety, and depression. BMC women's health (Mori LP et al.), 2024 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
15. [15] Investigating the association between infertility and psychological distress using Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH). Scientific reports (Bagade T et al.), 2022 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
16. [16] Infertility, mental disorders and well-being--a nationwide survey. Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica (Klemetti R et al.), 2010 europepmc.org.
17. [17] Association between depression and infertility risk among American women aged 18-45 years: the mediating effect of the NHHR. Lipids in health and disease (Yang Q et al.), 2024 europepmc.org.