Snoring Statistics: How Many People Snore?

How many people snore? The honest answer is a range: roughly a quarter to two-fifths of men and one-tenth to a quarter of women snore habitually, and about half of all adults snore at least occasionally.^[1] The precise figure depends on who you ask, how “snoring” is defined, and whether people are reporting on themselves — which, as you’ll see below, they do rather badly.

This page gathers the key snoring and sleep apnoea statistics in one place, with every number traced to its source. You’re welcome to cite it; the original references are listed at the end so you can cite those too.

How many adults snore?

Different authoritative sources give noticeably different figures. Rather than pick one, here they all are:

Why do the figures differ so much?

Two reasons, and they’re worth understanding before you quote any single number.

Definitions vary. “Habitual” might mean most nights, three nights a week, or simply “regularly” — and studies survey different age bands (the Sleep Foundation figure, for instance, covers ages 30–60, the peak snoring years).^[2]

Self-report is unreliable. Most surveys ask people whether they snore — but you’re asleep when it happens. The Merck Manual notes estimates vary widely partly because of this subjectivity.^[3] A study of 1,913 sleep-clinic patients measured snoring objectively and compared it with what patients said: 88% of women actually snored, but only 72% said they did, while men’s self-reports (93.1%) almost exactly matched the measurements (92.6%).^[7] Women, in other words, substantially under-report — which means surveys likely understate female snoring. More on this in our article on snoring in women.

A safe composite: roughly a quarter to two-fifths of men and one-tenth to a quarter of women snore habitually; about half of adults snore at least occasionally.^[1]

Sex and age patterns

• Men are consistently more likely to snore — ENT UK puts it at around three times more likely.^[6]
• Snoring is not fixed for life: the AASM notes men become less likely to snore after age 70.^[1]
• Menopause narrows the gap. In one large study, sleep apnoea affected 3.9% of men versus 1.2% of women overall — but among women it was 0.6% before menopause and 2.7% after menopause in those not using hormone replacement therapy.^[8]
• Pregnancy matters too: in a University of Michigan study of over 1,700 women, about 25% began snoring frequently during pregnancy.^[9]

Despite that measured intensity study finding women’s snoring nearly as loud as men’s — mean maximum 50 dB versus 51.7 dB, with 49% of women in the severe or very severe bands^[7][10] — women remain underdiagnosed, partly because of that under-reporting.

How many children snore?

• A meta-analysis found 7.45% of children are habitual snorers (95% CI 5.75–9.61) — hence the commonly quoted “roughly 7–10%”.^[11]
• Between 1.5% and 6% of children are reported to “always” snore.^[11]
• Sleep-disordered breathing affects 4–11% of children; obstructive sleep apnoea affects 1–4%.^[11]
• Snoring is more common in boys and in heavier children.^[11]

A snoring child is worth mentioning to your GP or paediatrician — see snoring in children for why.

Sleep apnoea: the numbers

Snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) overlap but aren’t the same thing — here’s how to tell them apart. The prevalence numbers:

The classic estimate. The landmark Wisconsin Sleep Cohort study (NEJM, 1993) found an apnoea–hypopnoea index (AHI) of 5 or more — at least five breathing interruptions per hour — in 24% of men and 9% of women, with the full syndrome (AHI ≥5 plus daytime sleepiness) in 4% of men and 2% of women.^[12]

The 2013 update. Re-estimates published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found moderate-to-severe OSA (AHI ≥15) in:^[13]

The same analysis put AHI ≥5 at roughly 26% of US adults aged 30–70, with prevalence estimated to have risen 14–55% since the late 1980s, tracking rising obesity.^[13]

The global picture. A 2019 analysis in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine estimated 936 million adults aged 30–69 worldwide have OSA — and more than 85% are undiagnosed.^[14] If your snoring comes with pauses, gasping or daytime sleepiness, our when to see a doctor guide explains how diagnosis works.

How loud is snoring?

Objective acoustic data comes from sleep-laboratory recordings, including a classic study of 1,139 patients (“The snoring spectrum”, Chest, 1999)^[15] and the 1,913-patient study above.^[7][10]

Interestingly, measured loudness correlates only moderately with how severe the bed partner perceives the snoring to be^[18] — pitch, pattern and the partner’s own sleep all play a part.

The partner toll

Snoring is a two-person problem, and the statistics bear it out.

An hour of lost sleep a night. In a Mayo Clinic study of couples where one partner had untreated OSA with snoring, the bed partner’s sleep efficiency was 74% — equivalent to losing about an hour of sleep per night — rising to 87% once the snorer was treated with CPAP. About 43% of the partner’s arousals were linked to snoring, and treatment cut partner arousals by 39%.^[16]

The rise of the “sleep divorce”. A 2023 AASM survey of 2,005 US adults found more than one-third occasionally or consistently sleep in another room to accommodate a bed partner:^[17]

If that’s your household, our partner’s guide to living with a snorer has practical, evidence-based options — because snoring is highly treatable, as our complete guide shows.

Citing these statistics

Feel free to quote this page with a link. For formal use, please cite the primary sources below — and note the honest caveat that runs through all snoring statistics: definitions differ, and self-reported snoring understates the truth, especially for women.^[7]