Increasing penis sizes are worrying doctors. Here’s why bigger might not be better

Does size matter?

For scientists, penis size is a regular part of evaluating reproductive health, but a recent trend has some doctors concerned.

A new study shows that average erect penis size has increased significantly over the past three decades using data from more than 55,000 men around the world.

The study, published Feb. 15 in The World Journal of Men’s Health, examined data from 75 different studies between 1942 and 2021 that recorded the penis size of their study participants.

They found slight differences among geographic region, age and other population indicators, but overall the average erect penis length has increased 24% over 29 years.

The researchers don’t believe that bigger is necessarily better.

Study author Michael Eisenberg, a urology professor at Stanford Medicine, said in a release that the findings raise alarm bells, not celebration.

“The increase happened over a relatively short period of time,” Eisenberg said in the release. “If we’re seeing this fast of a change, it means that something powerful is happening to our bodies.”

Eisenberg said that he was motivated to conduct the study because of past findings about changes to male reproductive health.

“For example, sperm counts and testosterone levels have been declining for a long time,” he said.

He said there were also higher levels of serious genital birth defects, and while some studies have reported changes to penis length, none have studied the change over time.

“Erect penis length is getting longer, from an average of 4.8 inches to 6 inches, over the past 29 years,” he said in the release.

So, what is causing the trend?

“It can be speculated that these changes may be linked with observations that pubertal milestones are occurring in younger boys than in the past,” the study said. “Data suggests that earlier pubertal growth may be associated with increased body sizes including longer penile length.”

Eisenberg thinks environmental factors may be changing when puberty starts, and it could be chemicals or even just an increase in sedentary lifestyle choices.

“There could be a number of factors at play, such as chemical exposure, like pesticides or hygiene products, interacting with our hormonal systems,” Eisenberg said.

He said that chemicals that disrupt natural hormones in the body exist in the environment and in food.

The next step is to expand the research to larger populations and age groups, including seeing if there are similar reproductive trends in females.

“Just as we measure height and weight every year across the U.S., this is something else we could measure in a systematic fashion, because it may turn out to be an early indicator of changes in human development,” Eisenberg said.

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