Fertility

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: due to unclear definitions for fertility, fecundity and derivative terms depending on whether the term is being used in demography, epidemiology or clinical medicine. For example fertility in demography is the actual production of live births by a female, while in clinical medicine it refers to the potential for a woman to become pregnant. Please help improve this article if you can. (March 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article may be confusing or unclear to readers. Please help clarify the article. There might be a discussion about this on the talk page. (March 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Fertility is the ability to conceive a child. The fertility rate is the average number of children born during an individual's lifetime and is quantified demographically. Conversely, infertility is the difficulty or inability to reproduce naturally. In general, infertility is defined as not being able to conceive a child after one year (or longer) of unprotected sex.^[1] Because infertility is widespread, fertility specialists all over the world assist persons and couples who experience difficulties conceiving a baby.

Fertility is an issue for people of both sexes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 35% of couples who cannot conceive, the cause can be attributed to factors on both the female and male side.^[1] Human fertility depends on various factors including nutrition, sexual behaviour, consanguinity, culture, instinct, endocrinology, timing of conception, economics, personality,^[2] lifestyle, and emotions.

Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the biological capacity to reproduce irrespective of intention for conception.^[3] Fecundity can be explained by gamete production, fertilization, and carrying a pregnancy to term.^[4] The antithesis of fertility is infertility, while the antithesis of fecundity is sterility.