Is it really proven that premature baldness is now more common than ever these days? There are historical figures whom have balded prematurely as well, like Vladimir Lenin, Otto von Bismarck, and Charles Darwin. There's also old actors like Sean Connery (RIP) whom reportedly started balding at 21, and Patrick Stewart whom went slick bald at 19 within only a year(!). I'm looking at historical photos and videos and there's tons of bald and balding guys there. I've also read of people back in the early 1900s freaking out and claiming that baldness is becoming more common.
I think the perception comes from the fact that we've become much more conscious about male pattern baldness in recent years, and that the population has increased ALOT this past century. In the year 1900 there were around 1.6 billion people globally, but now in 2021 there's almost 8 billion. That causes the total number of young balderers to go up, which makes them more visible, and that coupled with our self-conciousness makes us think that proportionally more people are balding than before.