Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea Statistics

Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea Statistics

The following statistics are collated from a large and diverse assortment of surveys and other data sources from countries all over the world. For this reason, and because every individual case is different from the next in the severity of the problem and the range of side effects it is causing, the stats quoted can only be rough averages. Nevertheless the figures are accurate enough to show some alarming trends which need to be addressed urgently.

41% of adult men and 27% of adult women are regular snorers.

In the USA, 90 million adults report snoring at least several times per week. 37 million of those adults report a major snoring problem, snoring loudly, for a large proportion of the sleep time, every night without exception. 52% of the loud snorers report several apnea episodes every night.

Across both genders, 41% of those in the 55 – 64 age group are regular snorers. In the 65 – 74 age group, 28% are regular snorers. In the 75 – 84 age group, 22% are regular snorers.

On average, the bed partner of a chronic snorer is woken 18 times a night, amounting to a loss of sleep of about 90 minutes per night.


46% of the bed partners of chronic snorers say they would rather sleep alone than with their partners.

Between 2% and 4% of the population suffer from Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Globally, it is estimated that one billion people have OSA, most of them, about 80%, are undiagnosed. 40% of adult Germans have OSA.

The risk factor of developing heart disease is 83.7% higher for an OSA sufferer when compared with a non-sufferer.

The risk factor for having an alertness related accident is 53.5% higher for an OSA sufferer when compared with a non-sufferer.

Finally, the compilers of one survey wanted to know how many marriages had ended because of the snoring of one of the partners. This is a tricky one because there are always many factors which add up to a decision to divorce. They were able to establish, however, that of the divorces where snoring was cited as one of the reasons, 28% of those divorces were carried through to completion because the snoring partner refused to seek help or do anything to alleviate the problem.