More than one in three couples have problems conceiving, according to researchers.
The average infertile couple spends £4,872 on treatments ranging from IVF to alternative therapies. Thirty-six per cent of infertile couples have at least three private sessions of IVF, costing up to £8,000 a time but only 47 per cent of women who have fertility treatment go on to have a baby.
The National Fertility Survey found that the average woman doesn't start trying for a baby until she turns 30, and 84 per cent of childless women in their early 30s wish they'd started sooner.
The study found that cash-strapped NHS trusts fully fund less than a quarter of couples seeking fertility treatment - leaving 77 per cent to go private.
The researchers estimate that women currently between 30 and 45 will spend £1.7billion on private fertility treatments, including IVF, ovulation drugs, egg freezing and alternative therapies. Previous studies suggest that 14 per cent of couples struggle to conceive, this latest research puts the figure nearer to 35 per cent.
Reasons for female infertility included conditions affecting the womb and ovaries such as endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome, and blocked fallopian tubes - a problem that can be caused by the sexually transmitted infection chlamydia.
Biology says that the best age to have a baby is 20 to 35 yet the most common age now to have a first child is 30 to 35. Dr Nargund, head of reproductive medicine at St George's Hospital in London, said that for many women, pregnancy late in life wasn't a choice but something they were forced into because of their working or financial circumstances.
September 2007
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