WHO Report: Women Who Smoke Face 40% Higher Infertility Risk, Men Face Sperm and Sexual Dysfunction

The World Health Organization released a knowledge summary Tuesday, September 8, spelling out what should surprise no one: smoking wrecks fertility, in men and women both, according to the WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative.

The agency defines infertility as failing to get pregnant after 12 or more months of regular, unprotected sex. WHO estimates one in six people worldwide deals with infertility at some point.

The Numbers

A systematic review of studies conducted between 2000 and 2026 found women who currently smoke have a 40% higher risk of infertility than non-smokers, according to Anadolu Agency and Premium Times. Health Policy Watch put it in plain terms: if the baseline infertility risk for non-smokers is 15%, that number jumps to 21% for smokers.

Quitting helps. Women who used to smoke but stopped have a 25% lower risk of infertility than women who keep smoking, per the WHO report cited by The Hill, UN News, and Premium Times.

Secondhand smoke isn't a free pass either. Health Policy Watch reported that women exposed to secondhand smoke had a 1.2 times higher risk of infertility, a specific figure most other outlets covering this report left out, framing the secondhand risk in vaguer terms.

It's Not Just A Women's Issue

WHO reviewed 44 studies covering more than 60,000 men and found smoking tied to erectile dysfunction, ejaculation problems, and semen abnormalities including azoospermia (no sperm), asthenozoospermia (poor sperm motility), and teratozoospermia (abnormal sperm shape), according to UN News and the Anadolu Agency report out of Geneva.

Dr. Kerstin Schotte, a Medical Officer with WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative, put the message simply: "For all people who plan pregnancies, our message is, 'Stop smoking, improve your health, improve your reproductive health as well,'" she told UN News.

IVF Doesn't Fix It

Smoking doesn't just make conceiving naturally harder, it undercuts fertility treatment too. A review of 21 studies found cigarette smoking linked to fewer live births and fewer successful pregnancies after assisted reproduction, including IVF, with the WHO report suggesting smoking could cut success rates roughly in half, according to UN News, Anadolu Agency, and the Fana News wire report out of New York.

But Health Policy Watch flagged a wrinkle other coverage skipped: a smaller, more recent study of about 300 women found no difference in fertilization or pregnancy rates between smokers and non-smokers, or between e-cigarette and non-e-cigarette users. WHO itself called the overall treatment-outcome evidence inconsistent, even while standing behind the broader halved-success-rate finding.

The Newer Products Question

WHO said evidence on e-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and waterpipes (hookah or shisha) is still developing and needs more research, a point every outlet in this roundup carried.

Health Policy Watch went further than the rest, citing a U.S. study of more than 4,500 women that found ever-use of e-cigarettes was associated with a 20% reduction in fecundability, the monthly chance of conceiving. That's a specific, sourced data point that outlets like The Hill and Fana News didn't mention at all, leaving readers with the impression vaping is an open question with zero evidence either way, when there's at least one study suggesting a real effect.

On waterpipes, the picture is murkier still. Some studies tie hookah smoking to lower semen volume and reduced sperm quality in men, but a more recent study found hookah smoking reduced sperm volume without affecting motility, according to Health Policy Watch. WHO says more research is needed before drawing firm conclusions on shisha specifically.

What WHO Wants Doctors To Do

The report's actual recommendation isn't complicated: WHO wants healthcare providers to routinely discuss tobacco's reproductive risks with patients trying to conceive, and to offer brief cessation advice as standard practice in all healthcare settings, according to UN News.

The report recommends doctors' offices, not a new regulation or ban. Nobody's proposing the government intervene here. The report's real audience is anyone planning a pregnancy who hasn't connected quitting cigarettes to their odds of actually having a kid. The first U.S. Surgeon General's report linking smoking to infertility in women dates back to 1979, according to Health Policy Watch, meaning this warning is nearly half a century old. What's new in 2026 is just how much more data has piled up behind it.