Dr Nikolas Katelaris has “stopped counting” how many vasectomies he has performed. After the tally hit 2,000, it became hard to keep track. In the past few years, the Sydney procedural GP has noticed a definite uptick in demand for the procedure.
Amid a national and international debate about declining fertility rates which often centres on women’s choices and experiences, Medicare data shows that the number of vasectomies performed in Australia has jumped from 22,230 in 2015 to 36,317 in 2025. And of the 699,473 total vasectomies recorded between January 2000 and December 2025, 210,105 – or nearly a third – took place in the last five calendar years.
Katelaris says there are two main reasons for the increase. “A lot of it is that men are taking more responsibility for their part in the contraceptive burden,” he says. And then there’s the economy. “People are realising that having a big family is expensive … It would be naive to think that that’s not part of what’s driving it.”
Katelaris says the biggest demographic seeking a vasectomy are men in their 30s or 40s who already have children and feel their family is complete. For them, it’s an alternative to other forms of birth control – most get their vasectomy done in clinics or doctor’s offices under local anaesthesia, driving themselves home afterwards. The “snip” itself permanently prevents sperm from entering semen by cutting and sealing the vas deferens, the tubes that carry sperm from the testicles. The appointment takes under 30 minutes, and typically costs between $400 and $1,000 after the Medicare rebate.
But Katelaris has also seen an increase in younger men without children wanting the procedure – a “challenging scenario” for doctors, as they are the cohort most likely to seek a reversal (the reversal rate for vasectomies is 2.4% overall, but increases to 11.1% among men who undergo the procedure between the ages of 20 and 24 years). He tries to dissuade younger men from getting a vasectomy, stressing to them that there is only about a 70-to-80% success rate for reversals – and that’s if it is done within eight years of the initial procedure.
So how do men arrive at the decision to get a vasectomy – and how does it change their lives? We spoke to five Australians who’ve had the procedure to find out.
‘It seemed quite cheap, quite easy’
Alex, 35, copywriter
My wife and I had a fair bit of trouble having more than one kid. We had a few miscarriages, and when our daughter was young, we learned she has a rare genetic variant, which she got from me. She is completely fine, but it does mean that any other children we had would need to be conceived via IVF [to be able to test embryos for that genetic variant] as it can cause pretty serious health problems.
We were doing IVF for a long time, we had a lot of setbacks, and it was a horrible, horrible time. We both eventually agreed we weren’t going to have any more kids.
My wife asked me if I would be open to a vasectomy. It seemed quite cheap, quite easy, and it would mean we didn’t have to worry about accidentally getting pregnant and our baby inheriting this genetic variant. It’s a straightforward procedure as opposed to something like a hysterectomy, which is major surgery. So from that perspective it was a no-brainer.
The website of the company I went with has a stock photo of a guy who is so happy – he’s clenching his fists to show how much he loves life. That’s me! It means I no longer have to think about a potentially big and knotty thing. Plus, I just don’t have to fuck around with contraception any more because I’m shooting blanks forever, baby.
‘I just felt like it was time’
Tom, 60, business owner
I was over 50 when I started thinking about a vasectomy – you don’t want a pregnancy at that age. I already had four kids from a previous relationship, and I knew I didn’t want more children.
But the final straw was that my girlfriend at the time suffered an ectopic pregnancy. It wasn’t a great experience for us, so after that I just felt like it was time to get it done. It is often left to women to take the pill when you’re in a relationship and I don’t think that’s fair.
That girlfriend and I later split up, but I have no regrets about getting it done. In fact, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. It gave me peace of mind for the rest of my life. I have been upfront with the women I’ve dated since about it, and the news is always positively received.
I mean, once you have seen what women go through with childbirth, it’s only fair that men suffer through 15 minutes to get a vasectomy. I will say they were the longest 15 minutes of my life – but, all things considered, it’s a small contribution.
‘I don’t want to bring up kids in this day and age’
Toby, 44, media
I think by my late 30s I knew I wasn’t going to have kids.
I got a vasectomy because I wanted to take control of what my future looks like. I didn’t want to repeat the cycle of the way I was raised, and the relationships I had with women were often quite toxic – it was a bit of a pattern. Dating in Sydney just got me to a place where it felt like there weren’t really options for having children. And then there’s the state of the world – I don’t want to bring up kids in this day and age. I look at my friends who have kids and it seems hard, man!
All of that sounds really negative but I’m actually really happy with my life and I want to keep it that way. All in all, I just knew kids were not for me. I’ve gotten three people pregnant before [those pregnancies ended in terminations] and that also weighed heavily on my decision – I didn’t want that to happen again, already knowing that I don’t want kids.
I talked to my mum about it and she was like, I think it’s a great decision, there are too many deadshit dads out there. If you know you don’t want it, then you don’t want it.
I got it done three months ago. It straightens out the narrative around how my life is going to go. It feels like a relief.
‘Two is enough’
Jack, 40, electrician
My partner and I have two kids and when our youngest was six months, we decided that we were done. I love my children dearly, but two is enough.
So that we didn’t have to worry about birth control or contraception, I volunteered to get the vasectomy. My partner’s body had already been through a lot, so it was nice to be able to do something that spared her having to deal with birth control. We probably spoke about it for two weeks and then I booked it in. I also talked to some friends who had had it done, which helped put my mind at ease about how simple it was to have done.
I had the procedure in 2023 and it’s made a huge difference to our sex life. We are definitely intimate on a more regular basis now and we can enjoy natural sex without worrying about an accidental pregnancy. My partner always says, “Gosh, I love this vasectomy!”
‘Men love to talk about their vasectomies’
Myles, 42, community support
I got my vasectomy done by a travelling snipper. I was number six out of 13 procedures the guy was doing that afternoon, in a room that he had rented in a medical centre. He had come from a clinic in western Sydney, where he had done a bunch that morning.
My wife and I have been together a long time and she had always been on the pill, but the hormones really affected her. She has tried IUDs and different things but didn’t have a great time with those either. We’re crazy environmentalist people and didn’t want the constant waste of condoms. We knew we didn’t want kids, also for environmental reasons. So it just made sense to get a vasectomy.
I was never worried about, “Oh no, now I’ll never be able to have children!” Plus, there’s still a way to harvest my genetic material and sire children if I care to [men who have had a vasectomy can use IVF to get pregnant without seeking a reversal].
I think more men should consider it. Shifting the biological burden of contraception on to women is just another example of patriarchy in action. After I got my vasectomy done, I started talking about it in my group chat – I’ve now referred three guys to the same place I went. Men who have had vasectomies love to talk about their vasectomies.
