Researchers based at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh in Dhaka found that early menopause affected 7.1% of 716,648 women aged 30 to 49 across 44 low- and middle-income countries, and the burden was highest in South Asia and East Asia and Pacific.
It used the latest Demographic and Health Surveys from countries conducted since 2015 and defined premature or early menopause as cessation of menstruation for at least six months, self-reported menopause or hysterectomy before age 45. Country-level prevalence ranged from 2.3% in Jordan and 2.6% in Gabon to 12% in Ethiopia and 11.5% in Indonesia, with the highest prevalence in women aged 40 to 44, where the rate reached 14%.
Prevalence was consistently higher in rural areas than in urban areas across all regions included in the analysis, while higher education, employment, marriage at age 18 or older, first birth at age 18 or older and parity of three or more children were associated with lower odds of early menopause. Middle wealth index and rural residence were linked to increased odds.
Premature and early menopause are linked to cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and premature mortality in the BMJ Global Health paper. A 2023 BMJ Global Health study using 302 standardised household surveys from 1986 to 2019 found rising prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia, while a 2025 study of 55 LMICs found early-menopause proportions as high as 15.21% in the Americas and premature-menopause proportions as high as 6.87% in Southern Africa.
A 2026 PURE cohort of 111,619 women in 26 countries over a median 14.6 years found about a 30% greater risk of major cardiovascular disease events after premature or early menopause. NHS guidance uses hormone replacement therapy for symptom relief and osteoporosis prevention, and NICE updated its menopause guidance in 2024 and again in 2026.