# Is ED normal at your age? What the studies show by decade > Erectile dysfunction becomes more common with each decade, but it is not a routine part of aging. NIDDK puts it at about 40% of men at age 40 and 70% by age 70, and long-running studies show new cases rising every decade. The rise travels with health conditions that build with age, which a clinician can check. _Last updated: 2026-10-17_ --- **In short:** erectile dysfunction (ED) gets more common as men get older. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) says about 40% of men are affected at age 40 and 70% report ED by age 70, yet it also says plainly that ED is not a routine part of aging ([NIDDK, Definition & Facts](https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/urologic-diseases/erectile-dysfunction/definition-facts)). This page lays out what the main studies found decade by decade, why the numbers differ from study to study, and why age is only part of the story. If you want the basics first, start with our guide to [what erectile dysfunction is](/erectile-dysfunction). ## How common is ED at 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70? ED is less common in younger adult men and becomes more common with each decade after 40. NIDDK's summary figures are about 40% of men at age 40 and 70% by age 70, with 30 million to 50 million US men affected overall ([NIDDK, Definition & Facts](https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/urologic-diseases/erectile-dysfunction/definition-facts)). The table gathers what individual studies found for each age group. Read each row with its study in mind, because the studies asked different questions of different groups of men. | Age group | What the studies found | Source | | ------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 20 and older, all ages | 18.4% reported ED, close to 1 in 5 men; prevalence was "highly positively related to age" | US national survey, NHANES 2001 to 2002 ([Selvin et al., Am J Med 2007](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17275456/)) | | 40 or younger | 26% of men seeking first help for new ED in one clinic were 40 or younger | Italian clinic series ([Capogrosso et al., J Sex Med 2013](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23651423/)) | | 40 | About 40% affected | [NIDDK, Definition & Facts](https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/urologic-diseases/erectile-dysfunction/definition-facts) | | 40 to 70 | 52% had some degree of ED (minimal, moderate or complete); complete ED rose from 5% at 40 to 15% at 70 | Massachusetts Male Aging Study ([Feldman et al., J Urol 1994](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8254833/)) | | 40s, 50s, 60s (new cases) | About 12, 30 and 46 new cases per 1,000 men each year, by decade | Massachusetts Male Aging Study follow-up ([Johannes et al., J Urol 2000](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10647654/)) | | 40 to 79 | Around 30% reported ED | European Male Ageing Study, 8 centers ([Corona et al., J Sex Med 2010](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19929914/)) | | 53 to 90 | 33% age-standardized (excluding men with prostate cancer); many aspects of sexual function "decreased sharply by decade after 50 years of age" | US Health Professionals Follow-up Study ([Bacon et al., Ann Intern Med 2003](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12899583/)) | | 70 | About 70% report ED | [NIDDK, Definition & Facts](https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/urologic-diseases/erectile-dysfunction/definition-facts) | | 75 and older | 77.5% affected | NHANES 2001 to 2002 ([Saigal et al., Arch Intern Med 2006](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16432090/)) | ## Is ED normal at 30 or 35? ED at 30 or 35 is less common than in later decades, and it is still not something you are expected to simply put up with. In one clinic series, about 1 in 4 men seeking first help for new ED was 40 or younger, and almost half of those younger men had severe ED, a rate similar to the older patients ([Capogrosso et al., J Sex Med 2013](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23651423/)). That figure describes men who came to a clinic, not all men in their 30s, so it shows that young men do seek help for ED rather than how many have it. Our guide to [ED in your 30s and 40s](/ed-in-your-30s-and-40s) covers the usual causes at this age. ## Is ED at 40 or 45 common? Yes. NIDDK puts ED at about 40% of men at age 40 ([NIDDK, Definition & Facts](https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/urologic-diseases/erectile-dysfunction/definition-facts)). In the Massachusetts Male Aging Study, which followed men near Boston for about nine years, men in their 40s developed new ED at about 12 cases per 1,000 men each year, the lowest rate of the three decades studied ([Johannes et al., J Urol 2000](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10647654/)). Common does not mean meaningless: in one community study, ED in the 40s carried the most weight as an early heart health signal, which the section on younger men below explains. ## Is ED normal at 50 or 55? ED is common in the 50s, and the rate of new cases is clearly higher than in the 40s. The Massachusetts follow-up found about 30 new cases per 1,000 men each year in the 50s, more than double the rate in the 40s ([Johannes et al., J Urol 2000](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10647654/)). In the European Male Ageing Study, concern about ED was highest in men aged 50 to 59, and only 38% of men who reported ED said they were concerned about it ([Corona et al., J Sex Med 2010](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19929914/)). ## Is ED normal at 60, 65 or 70? ED is common in the 60s and 70s: NIDDK says about 70% of men report it by age 70, and the US national survey found 77.5% of men 75 and older affected ([NIDDK, Definition & Facts](https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/urologic-diseases/erectile-dysfunction/definition-facts); [Saigal et al., Arch Intern Med 2006](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16432090/)). The Massachusetts follow-up put new cases at about 46 per 1,000 men each year in the 60s, the highest of the decades it measured ([Johannes et al., J Urol 2000](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10647654/)). Across men aged 53 to 90, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study found the lowest rates of ED in men with no chronic medical conditions who kept up healthy habits ([Bacon et al., Ann Intern Med 2003](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12899583/)), so a 70-year-old with ED still has reasons to ask what is behind it. ## Is ED just part of getting older? No. ED becomes more likely with age, but NIDDK states that it is not a routine part of aging ([NIDDK, Definition & Facts](https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/urologic-diseases/erectile-dysfunction/definition-facts)). In the original Massachusetts Male Aging Study, age was the factor most strongly linked to ED, yet the authors concluded ED has multiple causes, including some risk factors for blood vessel disease, and may be partly due to changeable factors that travel alongside aging ([Feldman et al., J Urol 1994](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8254833/)). In practice, that means "you are just getting older" is not a full answer, at any age. ## Why does the risk of ED rise with age? Age is itself a risk factor, and other health conditions build up alongside it: in the European Male Ageing Study, other health conditions became more common with age as sexual health declined ([Corona et al., J Sex Med 2010](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19929914/)). The American Urological Association (AUA) lists age, smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, obesity and an inactive lifestyle as risk factors shared by ED and heart disease, and says the most common underlying mechanism of ED is vascular, meaning it involves the blood vessels ([AUA Erectile Dysfunction Guideline](https://www.auanet.org/guidelines-and-quality/guidelines/erectile-dysfunction-%28ed%29-guideline)). The studies line up with that picture: | What the study looked at | What it found | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Health conditions, after adjusting for age | Heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, related medicines, and measures of anger and depression were linked to a higher chance of ED ([Feldman et al., J Urol 1994](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8254833/)) | | Men with no ED at the start and no heart disease or diabetes at either visit | Cigarette smoking almost doubled the chance of moderate or complete ED about eight years later (24% vs 14%); overweight and passive smoke exposure also predicted new ED ([Feldman et al., Prev Med 2000](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10731462/)) | | Lifestyle in men over 50 | More physical activity was linked to lower risk, obesity to higher risk, and smoking, alcohol and television time to more ED ([Bacon et al., Ann Intern Med 2003](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12899583/)) | | New cases over about nine years | Risk was higher with diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and lower education, after adjusting for age ([Johannes et al., J Urol 2000](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10647654/)) | | A national US sample | 51.3% of men with diabetes reported ED (an unadjusted figure); ED was also especially common in men with high blood pressure or a history of heart disease, even after adjusting for age ([Selvin et al., Am J Med 2007](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17275456/)) | These are associations from observational studies. They show which factors travel with ED, not that any one of them is the cause for a given man. NIDDK also lists medicines such as some blood pressure medicines and antidepressants, plus anxiety, stress and heavy drinking, among the factors that make ED more likely ([NIDDK, Definition & Facts](https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/urologic-diseases/erectile-dysfunction/definition-facts)). Our guide to [lifestyle and ED](/lifestyle-and-ed) covers the habits in more detail. ## Is ED in younger men different? In some ways, yes. In the clinic series of men seeking help for new ED, men 40 or younger had fewer other health conditions, a lower average body mass index and higher testosterone than older men, but were more likely to smoke and use illicit drugs ([Capogrosso et al., J Sex Med 2013](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23651423/)). The bigger difference is what ED may signal. In a US community study, men in their 40s without ED developed coronary artery disease at a rate of 0.94 per 1,000 person-years, compared with 48.52 for men the same age with ED, while in older men ED added little predictive weight ([Inman et al., Mayo Clin Proc 2009](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19181643/)). The AUA guideline says that when ED is present in younger men it predicts a marked increase in the risk of future cardiac events, and that young men with ED would benefit in particular from heart risk factor screening ([AUA Erectile Dysfunction Guideline](https://www.auanet.org/guidelines-and-quality/guidelines/erectile-dysfunction-%28ed%29-guideline)). That is a link at the population level, not a diagnosis. Still, ED is a good reason to have blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar checked. Our guides to [what ED can say about your health](/ed-and-your-health) and [ED and heart disease](/ed-and-heart-disease) go further. ## Why do ED numbers by age differ so much between studies? The studies measured different things in different men, so their numbers do not line up exactly. The Massachusetts study counted minimal, moderate and complete ED from a questionnaire ([Feldman et al., J Urol 1994](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8254833/)), the US national survey used a single question in a computer-assisted self-interview ([Selvin et al., Am J Med 2007](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17275456/)), and a US community study screened men who had regular partners and no known heart disease ([Inman et al., Mayo Clin Proc 2009](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19181643/)). That last study reported much lower figures, 2% of men in their 40s, 6% in their 50s, 17% in their 60s and 39% at 70 or older, but the direction is the same in every population study on this page: ED becomes more common with age. ## When to talk to a clinician Whatever your age, ED that keeps happening is worth raising with a health care professional, who can help find the cause and talk through treatments ([NIDDK, Definition & Facts](https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/urologic-diseases/erectile-dysfunction/definition-facts)). The AUA says men should be told that ED is a risk marker for heart and blood vessel disease and other health conditions that may need evaluation and treatment ([AUA Erectile Dysfunction Guideline](https://www.auanet.org/guidelines-and-quality/guidelines/erectile-dysfunction-%28ed%29-guideline)). That matters most if you are younger, or if you also have diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, or smoke. Age can explain why ED is more likely, but it does not explain it away. Our guide on [when to see a doctor about ED](/when-to-see-a-doctor-about-ed) covers what to bring to the appointment. ## Sources Every clinical statement on this page traces to one of these sources: - NIDDK, Definition & Facts for Erectile Dysfunction, last reviewed October 2024. 30 million to 50 million US men; about 40% at age 40 and 70% by age 70; more likely with age but not a routine part of aging; conditions, medicines, mental health issues and lifestyle factors that make ED more likely: [niddk.nih.gov, ED definition and facts](https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/urologic-diseases/erectile-dysfunction/definition-facts) - Feldman HA, Goldstein I, Hatzichristou DG, Krane RJ, McKinlay JB. Impotence and its medical and psychosocial correlates: results of the Massachusetts Male Aging Study. J Urol 1994;151(1):54-61. Random community sample of men 40 to 70; combined prevalence 52%; complete ED from 5% to 15% between 40 and 70; age the strongest associated variable; age-adjusted links with heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, medicines, anger and depression: [pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8254833](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8254833/) - Johannes CB, et al. Incidence of erectile dysfunction in men 40 to 69 years old: longitudinal results from the Massachusetts Male Aging Study. J Urol 2000;163(2):460-3. 847 men followed an average of 8.8 years; new cases of 12.4, 29.8 and 46.4 per 1,000 man-years for men in their 40s, 50s and 60s; higher risk with lower education, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension: [pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10647654](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10647654/) - Feldman HA, et al. Erectile dysfunction and coronary risk factors: prospective results from the Massachusetts Male Aging Study. Prev Med 2000;30(4):328-38. In 513 men free of ED and related illness, smoking at baseline almost doubled the likelihood of moderate or complete ED at follow-up (24% vs 14%); overweight and passive smoke also predicted new ED: [pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10731462](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10731462/) - Selvin E, Burnett AL, Platz EA. Prevalence and risk factors for erectile dysfunction in the US. Am J Med 2007;120(2):151-7. NHANES 2001 to 2002, 2,126 men 20 and older, single-question self-interview; 18.4% overall; strongly related to age; crude prevalence of 51.3% in men with diabetes; higher in men with hypertension or cardiovascular disease even after age adjustment: [pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17275456](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17275456/) - Saigal CS, et al. Predictors and prevalence of erectile dysfunction in a racially diverse population. Arch Intern Med 2006;166(2):207-12. NHANES 2001 to 2002, 3,566 men 20 and older; almost 1 in 5 affected; 77.5% of men 75 and older: [pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16432090](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16432090/) - Bacon CG, et al. Sexual function in men older than 50 years of age: results from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Ann Intern Med 2003;139(3):161-8. 31,742 men aged 53 to 90; age-standardized ED prevalence 33% excluding prostate cancer; sharp decline by decade after 50; lower risk with physical activity, higher with obesity, smoking, alcohol and television time: [pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12899583](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12899583/) - Inman BA, et al. A population-based, longitudinal study of erectile dysfunction and future coronary artery disease. Mayo Clin Proc 2009;84(2):108-13. 1,402 community-dwelling men with regular partners and no known coronary disease; ED prevalence 2%, 6%, 17% and 39% by decade from 40; coronary disease incidence 0.94 vs 48.52 per 1,000 person-years in men 40 to 49 without and with ED: [pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19181643](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19181643/) - Corona G, et al. Age-related changes in general and sexual health in middle-aged and older men: results from the European Male Ageing Study (EMAS). J Sex Med 2010;7(4 Pt 1):1362-80. 3,369 men aged 40 to 79 in eight European centers; around 30% reported ED, closely linked to age and other conditions; other conditions became more common with age; 38% of men with ED were concerned, with concern peaking at 50 to 59: [pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19929914](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19929914/) - Capogrosso P, et al. One patient out of four with newly diagnosed erectile dysfunction is a young man. J Sex Med 2013;10(7):1833-41. 439 consecutive men with new ED; 26% were 40 or younger; severe ED in 48.8% of younger and 40% of older men; differences in comorbidity, body mass index, testosterone, smoking and drug use: [pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23651423](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23651423/) - American Urological Association, Erectile Dysfunction (ED) Guideline. Shared risk factors for ED and cardiovascular disease, including age; vascular mechanism as the most common cause; ED in younger men predicting a marked increase in cardiac risk; ED as a risk marker men should be counseled about: [auanet.org, ED guideline](https://www.auanet.org/guidelines-and-quality/guidelines/erectile-dysfunction-%28ed%29-guideline) --- _Affiliate disclosure: some links on the web version of this site go to Bodybuilding Peptides (trybbpeptides.com), an affiliate destination, and we may earn a commission if you buy there. Our coverage is independent of that relationship. 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