Male hair loss is one of those life milestones that shows up for men around the world. But which countries see it most?
To understand the differences by region, it helps to start with the basics. The most common form is male pattern baldness, which is primarily linked to a biological process called androgenetic alopecia (AGA).
Put simply, AGA happens when certain hair follicles inherit a sensitivity to dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a hormone derived from testosterone.
As the years go by, affected follicles slowly miniaturise. The hairs they produce become finer and shorter, and in many cases the follicle eventually stops producing visible hair altogether — something most men can’t really control.
Genetics play a major role, influencing roughly 80 percent of cases — and despite the common myth, it isn’t something that only comes from your mother’s side of the family. Because hereditary patterns vary, rates of balding can look very different from one country to the next.
That’s what makes the global data so striking: hair loss isn’t spread evenly. In some places, a noticeably larger share of men are bald or balding.
World Population Review visualises this with an interactive map that ranks countries by the estimated percentage of bald males in 2024.
Europe dominates the top of the list, with four of the five highest-ranking countries located there. Spain sits in first place at 44.5 percent, followed closely by Italy (44.37 percent) and France (44.25 percent).
The United States appears in fourth at 42.68 percent, while Germany takes fifth place with 41.51 percent.
It’s also worth noting that hair loss can have more than one cause. While it’s especially common among men, it can affect people of any gender.
Along with inherited traits, shifting hormones can contribute. Stress can trigger a temporary shedding phase known as telogen effluvium; Cleveland Clinic says the hair usually grows back in three to six months.
Health conditions can also be a factor — for example, alopecia can lead to noticeable hair loss.
In the same dataset, many Asian countries show lower overall percentages of male pattern baldness compared with other regions. Indonesia ranks lowest on the list at 26.96 percent.
In the Philippines, about 28 percent of men are going or have gone bald. Malaysia is listed at 29.24 percent, and China is the first Asian country to break into the 30s, at 30.81 percent.
Outside Asia, the study also highlights relatively low figures in Colombia (27.04 percent) and Argentina (29.35 percent).