How many eggs does a woman have at 40? By the time a woman reaches 40, she'll be down to about 18,000 (3% of her pre-birth egg supply).
Unlike men, who continue to make new sperm every day, women are born with their entire life's supply of eggs. Over time, these eggs tend to deteriorate. Women in their 40s may still release an egg every month, but the quality of the egg may not be adequate enough to achieve a successful pregnancy.
By 40, less than half of a woman's eggs are considered normal. Egg quality is largely determined by the ovarian environment that the eggs spend their final 90 days of development in; women in their 40s generally have a poor ovarian environment for producing high-quality eggs.
From age 15 to age 45, there are approximately 200,000 eggs left in reserve. Within that timeframe of 30 years and given normal monthly menstruation, you have an estimated 550 available eggs per month in which only one best egg will be released.
The percentage of normal eggs a woman has decreases as she ages. At age 25, a woman has approximately 75% normal eggs. By age 35, that number drops to around 45%, and by 40, it's around 20-30%.
At age 40 and above women have reduced fertility potential as compared to that seen in younger women. They also have substantially lower success rates with fertility treatments including in vitro fertilization (IVF).
“Freezing eggs after the age of 40 is not typically recommended but may be considered on a case-by-case basis,” says Cross.
For women over 40, the IVF success rate is around 7%, with women under 42 having a higher rate of success than women over 42 years of age. In many cases, women over 40 may decide to use donor eggs.
By age 43, your egg supply is near its end. Your risk of pregnancy complications, such as high blood pressure and gestational diabetes, increases after 35 as well, and continues to rise into your 40s. Miscarriage rates begin to skyrocket in your 40s as well.
While it's true your fertility levels drop when you turn 35, it's still possible to get pregnant later in life, even after the age of 40. Ovarian function (meaning you still ovulate regularly) and general health are the main factors that will determine if you're able to get pregnant after 40.
Fertility generally starts to reduce when a woman is in her early 30s, and more so after the age of 35. By age 40, the chance of getting pregnant in any monthly cycle is around 5%.
Menopause. Natural cessation of ovarian function and menstruation. It can occur between the ages of 42 and 56 but usually occurs around the age of 51, when the ovaries stop producing eggs and estrogen levels decline.
In fact, according to 2019 preliminary data from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology's national summary report, the live birth rate among women aged 41 to 42 after an IVF cycle is 10%; after the age of 43, it drops to 3%. For families desperate to have a baby of their own, IVF can be a game changer.
A woman's peak reproductive years are between the late teens and late 20s. By age 30, fertility (the ability to get pregnant) starts to decline. This decline becomes more rapid once you reach your mid-30s. By 45, fertility has declined so much that getting pregnant naturally is unlikely for most women.
Egg quality starts to decline at age 32 and decreases rapidly after 37. Advanced maternal age also heightens the risk of birth defects. Only 28 percent of women, and 35 percent of men, believe age is the number one contributor to female infertility, the AOA survey found.
Women under the age of 35 are the most likely to benefit from a six-cycle regimen. Women 40-42 (using their own eggs) had a 31.5% live birth rate at the six-cycle mark. Women older than 42 (using their own eggs) had a <4% live birth rate at the six-cycle mark.
Age is the single biggest factor affecting a woman's ability to achieve a pregnancy and have a healthy baby – either naturally or through IVF. IVF and IUI Treatment through our Bulk Billed Program is therefore only available to women who are 45 years of age or younger (at the time of egg collection).
After 41 years the egg quality declines rapidly. When the woman is over 37 years old, reduced egg quality is often a contributing factor, when it is difficult to become pregnant. Therefore, it is likely that for some couples infertility is solely due to the quality of the woman's egg.
Egg freezing typically works best for women in their 20s to 30s, and is not generally recommended for women older than 38 years. The biological clock cannot be reversed by oocyte cryopreservation in women older than 40.
If you're thinking about having a baby after 40, you may be surprised to learn that egg freezing at 40 and beyond can help make that happen.
If you are 38 to 40 years old, freezing 25 to 30 mature eggs is recommended for a 65 to 75 percent chance of at least one live birth.
To ensure healthy and viable eggs, some fertility experts suggest limiting elective egg freezing to women age 38 and under.