Health organizations are currently divided on whether male circumcision is beneficial or not.
Some research suggests it can lower the rates of urinary tract infections and improve overall penile health, but the procedure can also lead to infection and can be seen as unnecessary.
And as Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao details below, culturally as well, regions of the world are starkly divided on the practice and we visualize this by mapping out the rates by country.
Data for this map is sourced from the โEstimation of Country-Specific and Global Prevalence of Male Circumcisionโ, a paper published on BioMedCentral in 2016. It is the latest complete data available on this topic.
A Regional Breakdown of Circumcision RatesMale circumcision is more common in countries where Islam and Judaism emphasize it as a religious practice.
Consequently, in North Africa and the Middle East, 99% of men aged 15 and older are circumcised.
| Country | ISO Code | Male CircumcisionRate (Men Aged 15+) |
|---|---|---|
| ๐ฆ๐ซ Afghanistan | AFG | 99.8% |
| ๐ฆ๐ฑ Albania | ALB | 47.7% |
| ๐ฉ๐ฟ Algeria | DZA | 97.9% |
| ๐ฆ๐ด Angola | AGO | 57.5% |
| ๐ฆ๐ท Argentina | ARG | 2.9% |
| ๐ฆ๐ฒ Armenia | ARM | 0.1% |
| ๐ฆ๐บ Australia | AUS | 58.0% |
| ๐ฆ๐น Austria | AUT | 5.8% |
| ๐ฆ๐ฟ Azerbaijan | AZE | 98.5% |
| ๐ง๐ญ Bahrain | BHR | 81.2% |
| ๐ง๐ฉ Bangladesh | BGD | 93.2% |
| ๐ง๐พ Belarus | BLR | 0.3% |
| ๐ง๐ช Belgium | BEL | 22.6% |
| ๐ง๐ฟ Belize | BLZ | 0.1% |
| ๐ง๐ฏ Benin | BEN | 92.9% |
| ๐ง๐น Bhutan | BTN | 1.0% |
| ๐ง๐ด Bolivia | BOL | 0.1% |
| ๐ง๐ฆ Bosnia &Herzegovina | BIH | 41.6% |
| ๐ง๐ผ Botswana | BWA | 15.1% |
| ๐ง๐ท Brazil | BRA | 1.3% |
| ๐ง๐ณ Brunei | BRN | 51.9% |
| ๐ง๐ฌ Bulgaria | BGR | 13.4% |
| ๐ง๐ซ Burkina Faso | BFA | 88.3% |
| ๐ง๐ฎ Burundi | BDI | 61.7% |
| ๐ฐ๐ญ Cambodia | KHM | 3.5% |
| ๐จ๐ฒ Cameroon | CMR | 94.0% |
| ๐จ๐ฆ Canada | CAN | 31.9% |
| ๐จ๐ซ Central AfricanRepublic | CAF | 63.0% |
| ๐น๐ฉ Chad | TCD | 73.5% |
| ๐จ๐ฑ Chile | CHL | 0.2% |
| ๐จ๐ณ China | CHN | 14.0% |
| ๐จ๐ด Colombia | COL | 4.2% |
| ๐จ๐ท Costa Rica | CRI | 0.1% |
| ๐ญ๐ท Croatia | HRV | 1.3% |
| ๐จ๐บ Cuba | CUB | 0.1% |
| ๐จ๐พ Cyprus | CYP | 22.7% |
| ๐จ๐ฟ Czechia | CZE | 0.1% |
| ๐จ๐ฉ DRC | COD | 97.2% |
| ๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark | DNK | 5.3% |
| ๐ฉ๐ฏ Djibouti | DJI | 96.5% |
| ๐ฉ๐ด Dominican Republic | DOM | 13.7% |
| ๐น๐ฑ East Timor | TLS | 6.4% |
| ๐ช๐จ Ecuador | ECU | 0.1% |
| ๐ช๐ฌ Egypt | EGY | 94.7% |
| ๐ธ๐ป El Salvador | SLV | 0.1% |
| ๐ฌ๐ถ Equatorial Guinea | GNQ | 87.0% |
| ๐ช๐ท Eritrea | ERI | 97.2% |
| ๐ช๐ช Estonia | EST | 0.3% |
| ๐ธ๐ฟ eSwatini | SWZ | 8.2% |
| ๐ช๐น Ethiopia | ETH | 92.2% |
| ๐ซ๐ฐ Falkland Islands | FLK | 0.1% |
| ๐ซ๐ฏ Fiji | FJI | 55.0% |
| ๐ซ๐ฎ Finland | FIN | 0.8% |
| ๐ซ๐ท France | FRA | 14.0% |
| ๐ฌ๐ฆ Gabon | GAB | 99.2% |
| ๐ฌ๐ฒ Gambia | GMB | 94.5% |
| ๐ฌ๐ช Georgia | GEO | 10.6% |
| ๐ฉ๐ช Germany | DEU | 6.7% |
| ๐ฌ๐ญ Ghana | GHA | 91.6% |
| ๐ฌ๐ท Greece | GRC | 4.7% |
| ๐ฌ๐ฑ Greenland | GRL | 0.1% |
| ๐ฌ๐น Guatemala | GTM | 0.1% |
| ๐ฌ๐ณ Guinea | GIN | 84.2% |
| ๐ฌ๐ผ Guinea-Bissau | GNB | 93.3% |
| ๐ฌ๐พ Guyana | GUY | 12.0% |
| ๐ญ๐น Haiti | HTI | 6.2% |
| ๐ญ๐ณ Honduras | HND | 0.1% |
| ๐ญ๐ฐ Hong Kong | HKG | 28.0% |
| ๐ญ๐บ Hungary | HUN | 0.8% |
| ๐ฎ๐ธ Iceland | ISL | 0.1% |
| ๐ฎ๐ณ India | IND | 13.5% |
| ๐ฎ๐ฉ Indonesia | IDN | 92.5% |
| ๐ฎ๐ท Iran | IRN | 99.7% |
| ๐ฎ๐ถ Iraq | IRQ | 98.9% |
| ๐ฎ๐ช Ireland | IRL | 0.9% |
| ๐ฎ๐ฑ Israel | ISR | 91.7% |
| ๐ฎ๐น Italy | ITA | 2.6% |
| ๐จ๐ฎ Ivory Coast | CIV | 96.7% |
| ๐ฏ๐ฒ Jamaica | JAM | 14.0% |
| ๐ฏ๐ต Japan | JPN | 9.0% |
| ๐ฏ๐ด Jordan | JOR | 98.8% |
| ๐ฐ๐ฟ Kazakhstan | KAZ | 56.4% |
| ๐ฐ๐ช Kenya | KEN | 91.2% |
| ๐ฝ๐ฐ Kosovo | KOS | 91.7% |
| ๐ฐ๐ผ Kuwait | KWT | 86.4% |
| ๐ฐ๐ฌ Kyrgyzstan | KGZ | 91.9% |
| ๐ฑ๐ฆ Laos | LAO | 0.1% |
| ๐ฑ๐ป Latvia | LVA | 0.4% |
| ๐ฑ๐ง Lebanon | LBN | 59.7% |
| ๐ฑ๐ธ Lesotho | LSO | 52.0% |
| ๐ฑ๐ท Liberia | LBR | 97.7% |
| ๐ฑ๐พ Libya | LBY | 96.6% |
| ๐ฑ๐น Lithuania | LTU | 0.2% |
| ๐ฑ๐บ Luxembourg | LUX | 2.4% |
| ๐ฒ๐ฌ Madagascar | MDG | 94.7% |
| ๐ฒ๐ผ Malawi | MWI | 21.6% |
| ๐ฒ๐พ Malaysia | MYS | 61.4% |
| ๐ฒ๐ป Maldives | MDV | 98.4% |
| ๐ฒ๐ฑ Mali | MLI | 86.0% |
| ๐ฒ๐น Malta | MLT | 0.3% |
| ๐ฒ๐ท Mauritania | MRT | 99.2% |
| ๐ฒ๐บ Mauritius | MUS | 16.6% |
| ๐ฒ๐ฝ Mexico | MEX | 15.4% |
| ๐ฒ๐ฉ Moldova | MDA | 0.5% |
| ๐ฒ๐ณ Mongolia | MNG | 4.4% |
| ๐ฒ๐ช Montenegro | MNE | 18.5% |
| ๐ฒ๐ฆ Morocco | MAR | 99.9% |
| ๐ฒ๐ฟ Mozambique | MOZ | 47.4% |
| ๐ฒ๐ฒ Myanmar | MMR | 3.5% |
| ๐ณ๐ฆ Namibia | NAM | 25.5% |
| ๐ณ๐ต Nepal | NPL | 4.2% |
| ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands | NLD | 5.7% |
| ๐ณ๐จ New Caledonia | NCL | 50.0% |
| ๐ณ๐ฟ New Zealand | NZL | 33.0% |
| ๐ณ๐ฎ Nicaragua | NIC | 0.1% |
| ๐ณ๐ช Niger | NER | 95.5% |
| ๐ณ๐ฌ Nigeria | NGA | 98.9% |
| ๐ฐ๐ต North Korea | PRK | 0.1% |
| ๐ฒ๐ฐ North Macedonia | MKD | 33.9% |
| ๐ณ๐ด Norway | NOR | 3.0% |
| ๐ด๐ฒ Oman | OMN | 87.7% |
| ๐ต๐ฐ Pakistan | PAK | 96.4% |
| ๐ต๐ธ Palestine | PSX | 99.9% |
| ๐ต๐ฆ Panama | PAN | 0.9% |
| ๐ต๐ฌ Papua New Guinea | PNG | 10.1% |
| ๐ต๐พ Paraguay | PRY | 0.1% |
| ๐ต๐ช Peru | PER | 3.7% |
| ๐ต๐ญ Philippines | PHL | 91.7% |
| ๐ต๐ฑ Poland | POL | 0.1% |
| ๐ต๐น Portugal | PRT | 0.6% |
| ๐ต๐ท Puerto Rico | PRI | 0.1% |
| ๐ถ๐ฆ Qatar | QAT | 77.5% |
| ๐ท๐ธ Serbia | SRB | 3.7% |
| ๐จ๐ฌ Congo | COG | 70.0% |
| ๐ท๐ด Romania | ROU | 0.3% |
| ๐ท๐บ Russia | RUS | 11.8% |
| ๐ท๐ผ Rwanda | RWA | 13.3% |
| ๐ธ๐ฆ Saudi Arabia | SAU | 97.1% |
| ๐ธ๐ณ Senegal | SEN | 93.5% |
| ๐ธ๐ฑ Sierra Leone | SLE | 96.1% |
| ๐ธ๐ฌ Singapore | SGP | 14.9% |
| ๐ธ๐ฐ Slovakia | SVK | 0.1% |
| ๐ธ๐ฎ Slovenia | SVN | 8.5% |
| ๐ธ๐ง Solomon Islands | SLB | 95.0% |
| ๐ธ๐ด Somalia | SOM | 93.5% |
| ๐ฟ๐ฆ South Africa | ZAF | 44.7% |
| ๐ฐ๐ท South Korea | KOR | 77.0% |
| ๐ธ๐ธ South Sudan | SDS | 23.6% |
| ๐ช๐ธ Spain | ESP | 6.6% |
| ๐ฑ๐ฐ Sri Lanka | LKA | 8.5% |
| ๐ธ๐ฉ Sudan | SDN | 39.4% |
| ๐ธ๐ท Suriname | SUR | 15.9% |
| ๐ธ๐ช Sweden | SWE | 5.1% |
| ๐จ๐ญ Switzerland | CHE | 5.9% |
| ๐ธ๐พ Syria | SYR | 92.8% |
| ๐น๐ผ Taiwan | TWN | 8.3% |
| ๐น๐ฏ Tajikistan | TJK | 99.0% |
| ๐น๐ญ Thailand | THA | 11.9% |
| ๐ง๐ธ The Bahamas | BHS | 0.2% |
| ๐น๐ฌ Togo | TGO | 95.2% |
| ๐น๐น Trinidad & Tobago | TTO | 5.8% |
| ๐น๐ณ Tunisia | TUN | 99.8% |
| ๐น๐ท Turkey | TUR | 98.6% |
| ๐น๐ฒ Turkmenistan | TKM | 93.4% |
| ๐บ๐ฌ Uganda | UGA | 26.7% |
| ๐บ๐ฆ Ukraine | UKR | 2.3% |
| ๐ฆ๐ช UAE | ARE | 76.0% |
| ๐ฌ๐ง UK | GBR | 20.7% |
| ๐น๐ฟ Tanzania | TZA | 72.0% |
| ๐บ๐ธ U.S. | USA | 80.5% |
| ๐บ๐พ Uruguay | URY | 0.6% |
| ๐บ๐ฟ Uzbekistan | UZB | 96.5% |
| ๐ป๐บ Vanuatu | VUT | 95.0% |
| ๐ป๐ช Venezuela | VEN | 0.3% |
| ๐ป๐ณ Vietnam | VNM | 0.2% |
| ๐ช๐ญ Western Sahara | SAH | 99.6% |
| ๐พ๐ช Yemen | YEM | 99.0% |
| ๐ฟ๐ฒ Zambia | ZMB | 12.8% |
| ๐ฟ๐ผ Zimbabwe | ZWE | 9.2% |
| ๐ World Average | N/A | 38.7% |
Meanwhile, South America and Europe have low rates, as do parts of Asia where Islam is not a majority religion.
However, there are some interesting standouts in this map. For example, South Korea, the U.S., and Australia have male circumcision rates above 50%, but all have combined Muslim and Jewish populations under 5% of the overall total.
Finally, itโs worth noting that theย WHO recommendsย voluntaryย medical male circumcision (VMMC) to reduce HIV risk for heterosexual men in high-incidence areas like Eastern Africa. However, it also states it is one of many prevention methods, alongside condom use and post-exposure treatment.
Islam is the second-largest religion in the world with nearly 1.8 billion followers.
