Number of single women undergoing IVF triples in a decade as average age drops to youngest ever

The number of single women undergoing fertility treatment has tripled in the last 10 years as the average age has dropped to 36 – the youngest ever recorded.

Data from Britain’s fertility regulator has revealed that in 2022 nearly 5,000 single UK women underwent IVF or donor insemination (DI) treatment.

This is three times more than the 1,534 treatments recorded in 2012 according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) report.

And experts have said the upsurge owes to a wider societal acceptance of “career-driven” single mothers.

Prof Geeta Nargund – medical director of Create Fertility – said “solo motherhood” offers women “greater choice and freedom” over when to start a family.

She added: “The Covid-19 pandemic meant that many women put decisions on hold, and it is likely to have prompted a rise in single women seeking IVF treatment with donor sperm.”

Fertility treatment indeed saw a huge spike in the wake of the pandemic – up 41 per cent from 2020 to 2021.

The HFEA report also draws attention to “egg freezing” which saw sharp growth in popularity immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic began.

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Those choosing the procedure – where a woman freezes her eggs so they can be used later in life – has nearly doubled since 2019.

Statistics also show that a decade ago, 94 per cent of all fertility patients were heterosexual women in relationships – a figure that has now dropped to 85 per cent.

However, the number of same-sex female couples procuring fertility treatment has more than doubled – from three per cent in 2012 to 6.3 per cent in 2024.

The fertility regulator says IVF is “one of the most invasive and expensive treatments per cycle” with only one in four IVF treatments resulting in pregnancy.

It follows reports that NHS funding for fertility treatment has continued to fall from 40 per cent in 2012 to 27 per cent this year.

Laura-Rose Thorogood, founder of LGBT Mummies – which aims for more equality in access to fertility treatments – said: “The whole system needs to be reviewed.”

The mother of four and her female partner have spent up to £60,000 on IVF over the last 13 years.

Thorogood added: “It’s been a tumultuous journey – we knew we had to pay for it ourselves and we’ve had to sacrifice lots of things to do it.”