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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Gregory Health editor

Number of single UK women having fertility treatment trebles, report says

Technician using a light microscope to inject human sperm into a human egg cell (ovum) during in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
About 16% of lesbian couples and 18% of single patients had NHS funding for first IVF treatment, compared with 52% of heterosexual couples. Photograph: Phanie/Alamy

The number of single women in the UK undergoing fertility treatment to start a family has more than trebled in a decade, a report has revealed.

In total, 4,800 women without a partner had in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or donor insemination (DI) treatment in 2022. This represents a 243% increase from the 1,400 single women who had fertility treatment in 2012, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

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