IV. Circumcision & Bodily Autonomy
Global Prevalence of Male Circumcision: Morris et al. (2016), Population Health Metrics
Circumcision is religious almost everywhere it happens, and cultural in the US.
About one in three men worldwide is circumcised, and the practice is concentrated almost entirely in Muslim-majority countries and Jewish communities. Among secular developed nations, routine infant circumcision is essentially an American habit.
Brian Morris and colleagues, who are themselves supporters of circumcision, published the most cited global prevalence estimate in 2016. They put the worldwide figure at roughly 38 percent of men. The map is not random. Circumcision is close to universal in Muslim-majority countries and among Jewish populations, where it is a religious rite. Strip those out and the practice nearly vanishes across the rest of the world.
Western Europe, Scandinavia, Japan, most of Latin America: routine infant circumcision is rare, usually under five percent and confined to religious minorities. The United States is the one wealthy, secular country that adopted it as a default for the general population. More than half of American newborn boys are still circumcised, a habit that began in the late 1800s and was never grounded in evidence.
So the practice is religious almost everywhere it occurs. In America it is something stranger: a cultural reflex most parents never think to question.
~38%
Of men worldwide, circumcised
Near-total
In Muslim and Jewish populations
<5%
Typical rate in secular Europe
>50%
US newborn boys, still today
Why it matters
When a medical procedure follows religious and national borders instead of medical evidence, it is not medicine. It is custom dressed up in a doctor's coat.
This is one finding from the research library behind How to Birth a Mother. Everything here traces back to a study, a dataset, or a systematic review.