Research on longevity and living vibrantly into old age continues to ramp up as Americans pursue peak quality of life. And now, a new study has discovered a key connection between sperm quality and life expectancy in men.
The fresh research, published March 5, 2025 in the journal Human Reproduction, suggests that men with higher sperm motility, aka the ability of sperm cells to move and swim efficiently, may live nearly three years longer than those with poorer semen quality. Here are the full details on this large-scale study of thousands of men spanning over five decades and what the results means for you.
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Sperm Quality and Life Expectancy in Men
For this new research, scientists evaluated the semen quality of 78,284 men from samples taken from 1965 to 2015 at the public semen analysis laboratory in Copenhagen, Denmark.
They focused on sperm motility, which varied widely throughout the sample, and included such markers as sperm volume and concentration. “Total motile sperm count” was calculated for each man, then compared against their mortality rates listed in Denmark’s national records.
On average, the study followed each man for 23 years, though some were tracked for as little as 8 years and others for as long as 45 years. During this window, 8,600 men passed away, which represents 11% of the total group studied.
The researchers found that men with a total motile sperm count exceeding 120 million per milliliter had an average life expectancy of 80.3 years. Those with counts between 0 and 5 million had a life expectancy of 77.6 years—a significant 2.7-year difference.
“The lower the semen quality, the lower the life expectancy,” said lead study author Lærke Priskorn, a researcher and doctoral candidate at Copenhagen University Hospital, in a statement.
“This association was not explained by any diseases in the ten years before semen quality assessment or the men’s educational level.”
Of course, while there were limitations to this study, but Priskorn and his peers said that the results are the first of their kind.
“To our knowledge, our results are the first to describe the association between semen quality and life expectancy, in contrast to our previous publication, which only reported relative differences in mortality risk,” they concluded. “Thus, there are no other publications available for a direct comparison, but one study reported that men with a sperm concentration of 0–5 million/ml were, on average, hospitalized 7 years earlier than men with a sperm concentration of 195–200 million/ml, underlining that men with impaired semen quality as a group not only can expect to die earlier but also to live fewer healthy years.”
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What Does This Mean for You?
For the average American, this new research suggests that male reproductive health can be a key clue to overall health and life expectancy. More specifically, poor sperm quality may signal underlying issues that could impact your longevity.
Here are some important numbers to know: A sperm motility of about 125 million per milliliter of semen is considered a normal range for a fertile male, according to experts interviewed by CNN.
If you have anything below 5 million per milliliter, it’s considered a low sperm count, diagnosed as Oligospermia, and can lead to infertility.
In this case, alarm bells should go off to look for underlying health conditions that could be contributing to your lower sperm quality and may impact your life expectancy, according to John Aitken, a distinguished professor emeritus from the School of Environmental and Life Sciences at the University of Newcastle, Australia.
“In men, it appears to be their semen profile that is providing the most significant information concerning their future health and wellbeing,” Aitken wrote in an editorial published with this new research.
Aitken noted that oxidative stress—a state of imbalance in the body between molecules that can damage cells, proteins, and DNA and antioxidant defenses—could be the culprit at play.
Oxidative stress can lead to lower-quality sperm in addition to other health challenges in the body, which is where the connection between the quality of a man’s sperm and his overall life expectancy starts to makes sense.
This is why the study author’s suggest that the best course of action is for health care providers to notify men when their sperm quality is low and encourage a full health assessment.
Proactive steps you can personally take, starting today, to improve your sperm and overall health include:
- Eating a healthy diet (fruits, vegetables, whole foods) full of antioxidants, which combat oxidative stress
- Exercising regularly
- Avoiding alcohol and tobacco
- Managing stress
- Limiting exposure to toxins (pesticides, heavy metals, etc.)
