How common are kidney stones?

About one in five people has kidney stones, which is quite common, says Jayram Krishnan, DO, a urologist at Sunrise Hospital. in this video, he says that this number is on the rise, particularly with an aging population.

Kidney stones are surprisingly common. In fact, over 5% of the U.S. population has had one, and the lifetime risk of having a kidney stone is about 1 in 7. The most common age group is 20 to 40 years old, but they can occur in children and senior citizens alike.

Men are three times more likely than women to have kidney stones. (Women often say that passing a stone can feel worse than giving birth, so maybe kidney stones are nature's way of evening the score.)

One in 10 men and one in 20 women will get kidney stones in the United States. Due to American lifestyles, that gap is constantly closing: the women are slowly catching up to the men.

Each year, more than half a million people go to emergency rooms for kidney stone problems. It is thought that one in 10 people will have a kidney stone at some point in their lives.

The number of people in the United States with kidney stones has been increasing over the past 30 years. In the late 1970s, less than 4% of the population had had kidney stones; by the early 1990s, it was more than 5%. The rates are continuing to increase.