Women and Falling Fertility: Women Lose 90 Percent of Eggs by Age 30 - ABC News

As if I needed another way to feel guilty about my infertility, here's a report that came out on ABC News regarding your age and amount of eggs. According to this study, by age 30, we've lost nearly 90% of all of our eggs. Not to mention the fact that the quality also starts to decline. And by age 40, we're down to about  3 percent. These results are surprising and much faster than experts previously thought. With a rise in media reports and especially Hollywood of more women having children later in life, we've been made to believe that waiting is okay. Have we been deceived?

Let's break down the numbers. Let's say that the "average" woman is born with 360,000 eggs. Then by age 30 with just 10% remaining, we're looking at 36,000 eggs. And as we all know, we only need one. And with the advance of fertility science and Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART), I'm confident that women will continue to get pregnant into their 30's and 40's.

It's also important to keep in mind that everyone's fertility is different. You can't make a general, blanket statement and expect it to stick for the entire population. Can age make a difference with fertility? Yes. But so can smoking, obesity and stress.

Tick, tock. Tick, tock.