Donor conception - births

Number of births and children born following treatment using donated eggs, sperm or embryos,
1992-2006

  • Each donor may specify the number of families he or she is willing to help create, up to a maximum of ten families. 
  • Since 1991, there have been around 1,700 births (or 2,000 children) each year following treatment using donated eggs, sperm or embryos.
  • Clinics must check the number of families that have already been created before using that donor for treatment to create another family.
  • Donors can apply to the HFEA to find out how many children have been born as a result of their donation, the child(ren)’s sex and year of birth.
  • Parents can also apply for non-identifying donor information from the HFEA.
  • Donor conceived people can apply for information but the amount of information they receive will depend on when they were conceived, their age and whether their donor has re-registered.
  • The number of children born as a result of treatment not using any donated eggs, sperm or embryos is included for comparison.
  • Treatment started in the years shown below. Any birth will have actually occured around nine months after treatment took place.  

Graphical representation of table below

Births following donor treatment
Year Sperm Eggs Embryos All donor
concieved births		 Births not
involving donation
1992 1,604 84 15 1,703 2,031
1993 1,973 130 26 2,129 2,579
1994 2,089 177 48 2,314 2,953
1995 1,942 205 38 2,185 3,800
1996 1,789 264 60 2,113 4,802
1997 1,605 289 63 1,957 4,946
1998 1,448 314 67 1,829 5,676
1999 1,342 377 60 1,779 5,985
2000 1,116 459 50 1,625 6,142
2001 1,050 432 67 1,549 6,462
2002 1,056 457 59 1,572 7,043
2003 997 449 54 1,500 7,385
2004 951 447 49 1,447 7,554
2005 855 472 59 1,386 8,287
2006 619 448 61 1,128 9,610

Graphical representation of table below

 

 

Children born following donor treatment
Year Sperm Eggs Embryos All donation DC babies as
a % of all
IVF/DI babies		 All IVF and
DI babies (own or donated gametes)
1992 1,790 118 19 1,927 42% 4,569
1993 2,283 169 35 2,487 43% 5,827
1994 2,361 236 65 2,662 41% 6,542
1995 2,221 263 50 2,534 34% 7,532
1996 2,019 353 80 2,452 28% 8,716
1997 1,822 388 84 2,294 26% 8,692
1998 1,640 416 85 2,141 23% 9,490
1999 1,502 484 76 2,062 21% 9,735
2000 1,245 595 60 1,900 19% 9,747
2001 1,165 547 90 1,802 18% 9,974
2002 1,188 595 76 1,859 17% 10,647
2003 1,104 564 68 1,736 16% 10,891
2004 1,049 566 56 1,671 15% 10,952
2005 952 584 74 1,610 14% 11,922
2006 693 562 74 1,329 10% 13,128

 

Further information

Page last updated: 21 July 2009