--- title: Health: Study Indicates Link Between Recession, Rise in Vasectomies description: An increase in the number of American men who underwent vasectomies may have been brought on by the recession, according to new research canonical: https://time.com/3524659/recession-business-vasectomies-health/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-20T15:19:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:53:24.128Z article:section: Health og:title: Study Indicates Link Between Recession and Rise in Vasectomies og:description: Up to an additional 150,000 to 180,000 per year between 2007 and 2009 og:url: https://time.com/3524659/recession-business-vasectomies-health/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b92d6b7abaab2a5/698761a92dce0132129db06f/200319351-001.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: vasectomy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Study Indicates Link Between Recession and Rise in Vasectomies twitter:description: Up to an additional 150,000 to 180,000 per year between 2007 and 2009 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b92d6b7abaab2a5/698761a92dce0132129db06f/200319351-001.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Lot of Men Got Vasectomies During the Recession > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 20, 2014 3:19 PM UTC  Man in examination gown sitting on bed in hospital room, side view Man in examination gown sitting on bed in hospital room, side view Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 20, 2014 3:19 PM UTC The recession was accompanied by a sharp increase in the number of American men who underwent vasectomies, according to [research](http://www.asrm.org/Recession%5FMay%5FHave%5FLed%5Fto%5FHalf%5Fa%5FMillion%5FVasectomies/) presented Monday, though it’s unclear if economic woes actually led to more procedures. Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College looked at survey data from the National Survey for Family Growth, which interviewed more than 10,000 men between 2006 and 2010, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. They wanted to get a sense of how the economic downturn from 2007 to 2009 affected men’s decisions about having kids. Before the recession, 3.9% of men reported having a vasectomy, but 4.4% reported having one afterward, which the researchers calculated to mean an additional 150,000 to 180,000 vasectomies during each year of the recession. The researchers also found after the recession that men were less likely to be employed full-time, and more likely to have lower incomes and be without health insurance. Nothing changed when it came to men’s desire to have children, but those who were interviewed after the recession were more likely to want fewer children. It’s important to note that the study, which is being presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s 70th Annual Meeting, does not prove causation, meaning it’s unclear whether men were undergoing surgery for financial reasons. Though the researchers do conclude that their findings suggest Americans may be factoring economics into family planning—which is not necessarily a new trend. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3524659/recession-business-vasectomies-health/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3524659/recession-business-vasectomies-health/"},"headline":"A Lot of Men Got Vasectomies During the Recession","datePublished":"2014-10-20T15:19:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:53:24.128Z","description":"Up to an additional 150,000 to 180,000 per year between 2007 and 2009","url":"https://time.com/3524659/recession-business-vasectomies-health/","keywords":["Research","Recession","Economy","Birth Control","Men","families"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b92d6b7abaab2a5/698761a92dce0132129db06f/200319351-001.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b92d6b7abaab2a5/698761a92dce0132129db06f/200319351-001.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"vasectomy","caption":"vasectomy","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3524659/recession-business-vasectomies-health/","name":"A Lot of Men Got Vasectomies During the Recession"}}]}] ```