Italy has the oldest fathers.
In Italy, the age at which a man gives birth to his first child has increased by 10 years, going from 25 in the late 1990s to around 36 today. Society is giving a late role to reproduction, forgetting that fertility, in both men and women, peaks between the ages of 20 and 30.
'Men's fertility potential declines sharply with age,' explains Alessandro Palmieri, president of the Italian Society of Andrology.
Italy holds first place for the oldest fathers, followed by France who become parents for the first time at 33.9 years and Germany at 33.2.
One in 3 men even cross this threshold, still being childless over the age of 36.
Scientific evidence shows that sperm functional characteristics such as motility, morphology and even DNA damage deteriorate with age. Added to this is the fact that the time of exposure to external environmental pollutants, such as microplastics, which have resulted in a problem for male fertility, increases with age.
What is important, not only for Italy, but for the whole world, is to dispel the myth that men are fertile at any age.
