China Faces Low Fertility Issues

HANGZHOU, April 9 (Xinhua) -- China, the country with more population in the World is suffering from low fertility levels. Around 10% of couples can't conceive, as recent studies have shown.

As a populated country, data was hard to gather, and statistics were hard to get, but individual reports on specific areas gave a whole look at the fertility situation in China, thus resulting in this 7 - 10 percentage of infertility among married couples as stated by Professor Wang Yifei, form the Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Before these studies, the blame of infertility and miscarriages was age. Women delayed childbirth until 35 old. But now results show that male infertility is also on the rise, with almost a 60% decrease in sperm count compared tot he 70s.

"A certain percentage of the sperm donated by seemingly healthy college boys to our sperm bank in Shanghai are not eligible in terms of sperm count or motility," Wang said.

There is no official results, but experts believe that around 10 million families need IVF or fertility treatment.

A reproduction health specialist in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, has attributed the rising infertility rates to stressful and unhealthy lifestyles linked to China's dramatic social and economic changes -- including obesity, drinking, smoking and environmental problems.

"The problem deserves attention from all walks of life because it threatens the quality and structure of our future population," said Prof. Huang Hefeng, of Zhejiang University, at an ongoing symposium on reproduction health in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang.