Many women are leaving it too late to have babies, with the average age of those starting IVF treatment passing 35 for the first time, the UK’s fertility regulator has found. This is a symptom of many women putting off when trying to have children naturally until they are well into their 30s.

IVF results in pregnancy in 42 per cent of cases for women aged 18 to 34, a report by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority found, but this drops to 26 per cent for those in their late thirties, and 5 per cent in the early forties.

The overall average age for women to have their first child — whether or not through fertility treatment — was 29 in 2022, up from 28 in 2012 and 27 in 2002.

The report covers national data from 2022. It highlights how record numbers of single women are trying to have babies on their own using sperm donors. More than 5,000 women without a partner went down this route in 2022, making up nearly one in ten fertility patients. Single women starting IVF tend to be slightly older, 36 on average.