Experts warn of lower fertility because of stress, lifestyle

HANGZHOU: The world's most populous nation is suffering lower fertility rates with up to 10 percent of Chinese couples unable to conceive because of stress and unhealthy lifestyles, reproduction health experts have warned.

No large-scale infertility survey has been conducted in the country and statistics are hard to come by, but reports contributed by regional research bodies indicate an average infertility rate of between 7 percent and 10 percent among married couples, said Professor Wang Yifei of Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Delaying childbirth until after a woman turns 35 and multiple abortions are often to blame for infertility and miscarriages. But Wang said male infertility was also on the rise in China, with sperm counts decreasing from an average 100 million per ml in the 1970s to 40 million per ml today. A sperm count of less than 20 million per ml is considered abnormal.