World Menopause Day
Next: October 18, 2027
Ask her how she's really doing.
The story
Where it comes from
World Menopause Day was founded in 2009 by the International Menopause Society, a global non-profit that has worked on midlife women's health since 1978, and is held every year on 18 October. Menopause is a natural part of ageing for women, yet it is often left out of conversations at home and at work. Each year the society chooses a theme, publishes a White Paper for doctors and shares plain guides for women in many languages.
How it's celebrated
National menopause societies hold talks and webinars, and employers and community groups are invited to join in and share trusted information. Many people mark it more simply: asking a mother, aunt, partner or colleague how she is really doing, and listening to the answer. Replacing myths with reliable facts is the heart of the day.
Did you know
- Most women reach menopause between the ages of 45 and 55, according to the World Health Organization.
- Apart from humans, menopause is well documented in only a few mammals, mostly toothed whales such as killer whales, belugas and narwhals; in 2023 researchers also reported signs of it in wild chimpanzees in Uganda.
- In a long-running US study of midlife women, Chinese and Japanese women reported hot flushes less often than other groups, a difference researchers have not fully explained.
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