Infertility Facts And Figures

Want Some Interesting Infertility Statistics?

Although many people throughout the world have problems with infertility, their stories are of little consolation when you are having difficulties conceiving. But it is important to put the details into perspective, particularly if you know the cause or causes that prevent you from getting pregnant.

The population of the United States is just over 304,000,000 people. Of that amount, 22% are females in their child-bearing years. Of that 67 million women, about 1 out 3 have difficulty with infertility. Of course, most don’t realize there is a problem until they decide to get pregnant. But the more than 7 million who did seek some type of infertility help are certainly glad they did. In fact, the statistics for women who have undergone is interesting since over 6% have received professional advice on infertility while 4.8% have taken a test to determine their fertility, and 5½% have been helped in order to prevent a miscarriage even though twice that many have had miscarriages. Just a little more than 1% received artificial insemination which is the one thing that sticks out in everyone’s mind when thinking of professional help, primarily because it is so effective. The fact that it is more common than most people think only shows that there is a lot of resources put into solving some of the problems associated with infertility.

Of course as a woman ages, her chances of conceiving diminish rather quickly. Yes there have been some older women in their 50’s & even 60’s who have become pregnant, it is not the norm. 15.2% of women who have not conceived between the ages of 35 and 39 years of age have received infertility services of one kind or another. From 30 to 34 years – 17.3%, and from 15 to 29 years of age only 2.9% have received infertility services. For those women between 40 and 44, 27½% are infertile, while those 35 to 39 it drops to 22.6% and from 30 to 34 it drops even further down to 16.9%. Under 29 years of age, the overall rate of infertility among married women is 11%.

The good news, of course, is that treatment is available and the success rate increases the early services are performed. For example, after undergoing in vitro fertilization about 38% of women at age 31 gave birth. At age 39 it drops to 22% and after 43, only 10% of the women using IVF become pregnant. These statistics are for women using their own eggs. The interesting thing is that for women even in their 40’s, using a younger woman’s egg increases the success rate more than 4 fold. That is substantial under any circumstances. Before going for any infertility treatments it is wise to eliminate any of the other infertility problems that you have control over.