Globally, it is more common to be uncircumcised. Roughly 62% of males aged 15 and older have an intact foreskin, while about 38% are circumcised. That said, where you live changes the picture dramatically. In some countries circumcision is nearly universal; in others it is rare.
The Global Picture
About one in three males worldwide is circumcised. A large-scale estimate from the University of Sydney put the global prevalence at approximately 38%, meaning nearly two out of every three men are uncircumcised. The practice is concentrated heavily in specific regions and religious communities rather than spread evenly across the world.
Religion is the single biggest driver. Countries with large Muslim or Jewish populations report rates at or near 100%. Iran, Iraq, Yemen, and the West Bank all sit at 99 to 100%. Indonesia and Syria are around 93%, and Israel is at 92%. Outside of religious tradition, rates vary enormously even among neighboring countries.
How Rates Differ Across Western Countries
The United States is a clear outlier among Western nations. About 71% of American males are circumcised, a figure shaped by decades of routine newborn circumcision in hospitals. No other English-speaking Western country comes close. New Zealand sits at roughly 33%, Australia at 27%, and the United Kingdom at 21%.
Continental Europe has some of the lowest rates in the world. France reports about 14%, Germany 11%, Sweden 5%, Italy 3%, and Ireland just 1%. In most of these countries, circumcision is performed almost exclusively for religious or medical reasons rather than as a routine newborn procedure.
Rates in Africa and Asia
Africa has a higher prevalence than the global average, with studies estimating that about 62% of African males are circumcised. Much of this is driven by Muslim-majority populations in North and West Africa, along with longstanding cultural traditions in East and Southern Africa. The World Health Organization has also promoted voluntary medical circumcision in parts of sub-Saharan Africa since 2007, based on evidence from randomized controlled trials showing it lowers the risk of female-to-male HIV transmission by approximately 60%.
Asia is more of a patchwork. The Philippines reports a prevalence above 92%, reflecting a deep cultural norm. China, by contrast, sits at about 14%. Southeast Asian countries with large Muslim populations, like Indonesia at 93%, skew high, while East Asian countries generally have low rates.
U.S. Rates Are Declining
Even in the United States, circumcision has become less common over time. Between 1979 and 2010, the national newborn circumcision rate dropped from 64.5% to 58.3%, according to the CDC. A more recent Johns Hopkins analysis of over 1.5 million hospital records found the rate fell further, from 54.1% in 2012 to 49.3% in 2022. For the first time in modern tracking, fewer than half of newborn boys in U.S. hospitals were circumcised.
The decline is not uniform across the country. The Western U.S. saw the steepest drop, falling 37% over three decades to reach about 40% by 2010. The Midwest historically had the highest rates, peaking near 83% in the late 1990s before declining into the high 60s. The Northeast has remained relatively flat, hovering between 61% and 70% year to year. These regional differences mean that what feels “normal” depends heavily on where in the country you grew up.
Why the Practice Persists or Fades
Three main forces shape circumcision rates: religion, cultural norms, and medical recommendations. In Muslim and Jewish communities, circumcision carries deep religious significance and is practiced nearly universally regardless of what country the family lives in. In the U.S., the tradition became widespread in the mid-20th century largely for perceived hygiene and health reasons, then maintained momentum simply because fathers who were circumcised often chose it for their sons.
On the medical side, the American Academy of Pediatrics has stated that the health benefits of newborn circumcision outweigh the risks. Those benefits include a lower risk of urinary tract infections in the first year of life (about 1 in 1,000 for circumcised infants versus 1 in 100 for uncircumcised infants), reduced rates of several sexually transmitted infections including HIV, HPV, and genital herpes, and prevention of foreskin-specific conditions like phimosis. Complications from the procedure are rare and typically minor, such as bleeding or infection.
Despite that position, the AAP stops short of recommending universal circumcision, framing it as a parental decision. Most other Western medical organizations take a similar or more neutral stance, which partly explains why rates outside the U.S. remain low. In countries where public health systems do not cover the procedure and medical bodies do not actively recommend it, few parents opt in.
What This Means in Practical Terms
If you are uncircumcised, you are in the global majority. If you are circumcised, you are in a large minority of roughly 38% of all males. In the U.S., circumcised men still make up the majority of the adult population, but the gap is closing with each generation. Among boys born in American hospitals in 2022, the split was essentially even.
Both circumcised and uncircumcised are entirely normal anatomical states. The health differences, while statistically real, are modest for individuals living in countries with good sanitation and access to healthcare. Proper hygiene for uncircumcised males involves gently retracting the foreskin to clean underneath, a simple habit that effectively addresses the infection-risk differences cited in medical literature.