Infertility Statistics

Often couples who have trouble getting pregnant feel isolated. They long to have a baby of their own, especially when they see others with children. Even though statistics say otherwise, they feel like they are the only people in the world having this problem.

Currently there are about 7.3 million US women between age 15 and 44 who have problems conceiving. Of course, many of them don’t even know it until they attempt to start a family. Some got pregnant even though they had issues like polycystic ovarian syndrome but had not been diagnosed until after they had kids. (But usually this is not the case.)

A number of other couples have undergone fertility treatments. And when the fertile couples see the happy couples with their new babies, and they don’t even contemplate whether the parents had some sort of infertility treatment in order to conceive.

In 2002, the following percentages apply to women between ages 15 and 44:

  • 11.9% received infertility services
  • 6.1% received professional advice
  • 5.5% received medical help to prevent miscarriage
  • 4.8% underwent a fertility test
  • 3.8% have received population drugs
  • 1.1% received artificial insemination
  • 11.8% have impaired fecundity (have problems getting pregnant and carrying a baby to term)

As you probably know, likelihood of becoming pregnant decreases with the age of the woman because of the loss of their eggs. Of childless women who have received infertility service:

  • 15.2% between the ages of 35 and 39
  • 17.3% between the ages of 30 and 34
  • 2.9% between the ages of 15 and 29
  • The percentage of childless women who are infertile:
  • 27.4% between the age 40 and 44
  • 22.6%  between the age of 35 and 39
  • 16.9% between the age of 30 and 34
  • 11% between the age of 15 and 29

Still, just because there are problems getting pregnant doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.  In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a very effective fertility treatment. Here are the success rates:

  • up to age 31 — 38%
  • by age 39 — 22%
  • after age 43 — less than 10%

But the numbers for women who have used an egg donor are encouraging: while IVF success was less than 10% for a 40-year-old mother using her own eggs, those with an egg donor had a success rate of 45% that is an even better rate than women using their own eggs in their early 30s.