The average man pees for 36 seconds

What is Uroflowmetry?

Uroflowmetry is the measurement of the rate of urine flow. It is useful for detecting bladder and prostate problems or obstructions in the urinary tract.

Here are some fun facts about peeing:

Girls pee almost twice as fast as boys

Girls (7-14) take on average 12.3 seconds to pee, compare to boys (7-14) who take 20 seconds. This is likely due to females having a shorter urethra.

Girls: 12 seconds

Boys: 20 seconds

Men over 50 pee a third slower than 25 year olds

30% slower flow for older men

The average urine flow rate for 16-50 year olds is 13.05ml per second, compared to just 8.9ml per second for over 50s. Older men also take three seconds longer to reach their peak flow (maximum speed). However both young and old take, on average, the same overall time to void their bladder (37 seconds).

Average for men to pee: 37 seconds
This is the same for young and old men, it’s just that the flow rate decreases as you get older

There is wide discrepancy with both young and old men with some taking as long as 57 seconds and some as little as 18 seconds.

Post-menopause women take 6 seconds longer to pee

The average younger woman takes 36 seconds to pee, compared to 41 seconds for post-menopause women.

Pre menopause: 36 seconds

Post menopause: 41 seconds

Why do older people pee slower?

With both sexes the bladder muscles weaken as we get older. As men grow older their prostate enlarges which obstructs the urethra (much as standing on a hosepipe stems the flow of water).

All animals over 3kg take about 20 seconds to pee

The larger the animal, the longer the urethra. The longer the urethra, the faster the rate of peeing. So larger animals, like cows or elephants, have a faster flow than smaller animals like dogs or pigs. This twenty second rule is also the same for boys up to 14 years old.