Donor conception - births

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.

Births following donor treatment
Year	Sperm	Eggs	Embryos	All donor concieved births	Births not involving donation
1992	1,604	87	15	1,706	2,028
1993	1,972	135	26	2,133	2,573
1994	2,086	177	49	2,312	2,953
1995	1,947	205	38	2,190	3,793
1996	1,797	266	60	2,123	4,790
1997	1,615	289	63	1,967	4,946
1998	1,473	314	67	1,854	5,673
1999	1,377	378	60	1,815	5,964
2000	1,151	461	50	1,662	6,107
2001	1,083	432	66	1,581	6,435
2002	1,092	457	59	1,608	7,003
2003	1,037	449	54	1,540	7,336
2004	994	447	49	1,490	7,513
2005	919	472	60	1,451	8,242
2006	755	446	62	1,263	9,461
2007	826	395	52	1,273	10,280
2008	853	417	63	1,333	11,064

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	122	19	1,931	42%	4,569
1993	2,282	177	35	2,494	43%	5,825
1994	2,358	236	66	2,660	41%	6,540
1995	2,228	263	50	2,541	34%	7,530
1996	2,032	356	80	2,468	28%	8,714
1997	1,833	388	84	2,305	26%	8,703
1998	1,670	416	85	2,171	23%	9,517
1999	1,544	485	76	2,105	22%	9,754
2000	1,287	598	60	1,945	20%	9,750
2001	1,207	547	89	1,843	18%	9,979
2002	1,233	595	76	1,904	18%	10,643
2003	1,154	564	68	1,786	16%	10,877
2004	1,098	566	56	1,720	16%	10,955
2005	1,029	584	75	1,688	14%	11,946
2006	857	560	76	1,493	11%	13,112
2007	955	506	64	1,525	11%	14,162
2008	977	541	82	1,600	11%	15,237

Background briefing - sperm, eggs and embryo donation

Page last updated: 23 July 2010