(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) A recently released study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found that sperm concentration has decreased dramatically since the 1970s, and researchers expected the decline to continue.
The study is built on information from a different study published in 2017 that gathered data on sperm concentration in men from Western countries, the Daily Wire reported.
The new study looked at nearly 60,000 men from 53 different countries across the globe. Researchers found that sperm concentration dropped 51% between 1973 and 2018.
Sperm counts dropped 1.2% per year between 1973 and 2000, but the rate of decline increased to 2.6% per year from 2000 to 2018.
Prof. Hagai Levine, the study’s lead author, described the decrease as “an amazing pace.”
“The key point that needs to be made is that this is desperately bad news for couple fertility,” said Prof. Richard Sharpe, an expert in male health at the University of Edinburgh.
“These issues are not just a problem for couples trying to have kids,” Sharpe added. “They are also a huge problem for society in the next 50-odd years as less and less [sic] young people will be around to work and support the increasing bulge of elderly folk.”
It is not clear why sperm counts to fell so quickly but scientists have theorized that fossil-fuel pollution may be a factor, or the adverse affects of obesity, poor diet, drinking and smoking.
Levine emphasized that no matter the cause, the new numbers are extremely alarming.
“I think this is another signal that something is wrong with the globe and that we need to do something about it,” he said. “So yes, I think it’s a crisis, that we [had] better tackle now, before it may reach a tipping point which may not be reversible.”
While climate alarmists argue that overpopulation is a threat to the earth itself, some have voiced concerns that declining birth rates pose a larger problem for humanity.
“A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far,” tweeted billionaire Elon Musk, who has 10 children with three different mothers.
Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis.
A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2022
“Far too many people are under the illusion that Earth is overpopulated, even though birth rate trends are so obviously headed to population collapse,” Musk added.
Far too many people are under the illusion that Earth is overpopulated, even though birth rate trends are so obviously headed to population collapse
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2022
