Subgroup analysis
Figure 4 presents the prevalence of infertility for participants or studies with different characteristics. In terms of geographical region, the prevalence of infertility for participants from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania were 16.73%, 14.91%, 13.83%, 8.84%, and 16.45% respectively (P <0.001). There are differences between each other. The prevalence rates in survey years groups were 9.06, 10.81, 14.32, and 17.2 respectively (P<0.001). The prevalence of infertility increases with the number of years, Showing a significant linear trend (Ptrend <0.001). Combined rates of infertility Compared to cross-sectional studies, the prevalence is significantly lower in cohort or prospective follow-up studies (9.75% vs 12.93%, P <0.001). Globally, the prevalence of infertility for women ≥35 years old is significantly higher than that for women <35 years old (11.68% vs 5.92%,Ptrend <0.001). From low to high levels of literature bias, the prevalence increased from 9.72% to 11.75 to 16.7% (Ptrend <0.001). Detailed subgroup analysis forest maps were shown in Figure S3 to S6. The funnel plot results are shown in Figure S7.