How Long Does a Hip Replacement Last? What the Registry Data Says

A modern hip replacement typically lasts 15 to 25 years, and often longer, with around 90 to 95% still in place at 10 years. ¹ That is the short answer I went looking for myself, the week the surgeon told me my right hip needed doing. I was 58. The number I most wanted was not the success rate. It was how long the new one would hold, because I was quietly doing the arithmetic on whether I would have to go through all of this twice.

So here is what I found out, checked against the studies rather than the forums, and what it has actually meant living with the thing.

What “lasts” really means

When people ask how long a hip lasts, they usually mean two different things at once: how many years before the implant might need redoing, and how many years it keeps feeling good. They are not the same. A hip can be loosening slowly on an X-ray while still feeling fine, and another can ache for reasons that have nothing to do with the parts wearing out.

The way surgeons measure it is implant survival: the share of hips still in place, not yet revised, after a given number of years. On that measure a total hip replacement (total hip arthroplasty) replaces the worn ball and socket with an artificial ball, stem, and socket of metal, ceramic, and hard plastic, and those parts have a working life like anything else that bears load every day. The most common reason any of us needed one in the first place is osteoarthritis, the wearing of the joint cartilage, which is the single most common reason hips reach replacement worldwide. ²

The numbers, at 10 and at 25 years

Around 90 to 95% of hip replacements are still in place at 10 years. ¹ That figure surprised me by how high it was, and it is the one I would hold onto if you are nervous: a decade on, the large majority of hips are simply still doing their job.

The longer view is more striking. A pooled analysis in The Lancet, which combined national joint registries and case series following people for more than 15 years, found that about 6 to 8 in 10 hip replacements were still working at 25 years. ¹ Put plainly: a quarter of a century after surgery, most hips have not needed redoing. That is where the everyday “15 to 25 years, often longer” comes from. It is an average drawn from real people followed for a very long time, not a manufacturer’s promise.

One honest caveat the researchers make themselves: those 25-year figures come from implants put in decades ago. Bearing materials have improved since, so newer hips may do better, but they have not been in long enough yet to prove it. ¹

What changes how long yours lasts

Longevity is about you as much as the parts. The averages above hide a wide spread, and a few things push you one way or the other.

Age at surgery matters most. The younger you are, the more years of use the implant has to survive, so a younger patient is more likely to need at least one revision in their lifetime. Hip replacement is most common between 60 and 80 for exactly this reason. Weight and activity matter too: more load, and more high-impact activity, sends more wear through the bearing surfaces over time. That is not an argument for sitting still. Keeping a healthy weight and strong muscles protects the joint, and staying active is part of good long-term care; OARSI lists exercise and weight management as core treatments for hip osteoarthritis whether or not you have surgery. ³ What surgeons tend to moderate is repeated high impact, like running on hard ground, not movement in general.

The implant and the surgery play their part as well: the bearing surface, how the parts are fixed to bone, and a well-positioned implant all feed into how slowly it wears. If you want to dig into those choices, the article on hip implant types and materials goes deeper than I will here.

How a hip actually reaches the end of its life

Hips rarely fail suddenly. The main long-term reason one eventually needs revision is gradual loosening or wear: the implant slowly works loose from the bone, or the bearing surfaces wear, and the joint becomes painful again over months. That slow timeline is a kind of mercy, because it gives you warning. Pain that quietly returns and worsens, especially deep in the groin or thigh, is the signal to get it checked rather than wait.

Other problems behave differently. Dislocation, at about 1 to 2 in 100, is highest in the first weeks, which is why the early precautions matter so much. Deep infection, at about 1 in 100, is a serious complication that can need further surgery. But these tend to show up early, not after fifteen good years, so they are a different conversation from longevity. I cover them properly in hip replacement risks and complications. When a hip does wear out, it is redone in a revision, an operation explained in revision hip replacement.

Lasting and feeling good are different things

Here is the part I most want you to hear, because the survival statistics can make the whole thing sound colder than it is. Around 9 in 10 people are satisfied with their hip replacement, a higher rate than for knee replacement. ⁴ The operation is one of the most effective in modern surgery for relieving arthritis pain.

That has been true for me in a way the numbers do not capture. Years on, I do not think about my right hip. It does not ache when the weather turns, it does not wake me, and on a good long walk I genuinely forget which side was done. A knee, I am told, more often keeps reminding you it is there; a hip more readily comes to feel like your own again. I cannot promise you twenty-five years, because no one can promise any individual person an average. What I can tell you is that I went in dreading a countdown, and what I got was my life back, with a number attached that I now barely think about.

If you are weighing the decision itself rather than the lifespan, signs it is time for a hip replacement is where I would start.

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General information, not medical advice. Implant survival and your own situation vary; please discuss your hip, your activity, and your options with a qualified clinician.