Infertility (Office on Women's Health)

Tier 1: Established: peer-reviewed research or government health authority
Publisher: Office on Women's Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services · Published: August 16, 2026 · Accessed: August 16, 2026

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Claims this source supports

• Infertility means not being able to get pregnant after one year of trying (or six months if a woman is 35 or older).
• About 10 percent of women (6.1 million) in the United States ages 15-44 have difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant, according to the CDC.
• Age is a growing cause of fertility problems: about one-third of couples in which the woman is over 35 have fertility problems, and a woman's chances of having a baby decrease rapidly every year after the age of 30.
• Aging decreases a woman's chances of having a baby in several ways, including that she is more likely to have a miscarriage.
• Most cases of female infertility are caused by problems with ovulation; irregular or absent menstrual periods are a sign a woman may not be ovulating normally.
• According to a 2014 CDC report on ART, the average percentage of ART cycles that led to a live birth were: 39% in women under 35, 30% in women 35-37, 21% in women 37-40, and 11% in women 41-42.
• IVF (in vitro fertilization) is the most effective ART (assisted reproductive technology), often used when fallopian tubes are blocked or when a man produces too few sperm.