Chance of success
For heterosexual couples who are lucky enough to conceive without any help, their chance of success per month of trying is approximately 7-8%, with more than 80% couples conceiving after one year of regular unprotected intercourse. With a fertility treatment such as IUI it can be around 10-15%, or IVF 30-40% per attempt.
Many factors influence success rates, but the biggest single determinant of pregnancy success is the age of the woman whose eggs are used. It is unfortunately widely established that as a woman ages, the chance of becoming pregnant decreases, and the chance of miscarriage or having a child with a genetic disability increases, due to the ageing of the ovary. This is why we encourage all women to seek advice from their GP or a fertility specialist promptly when they have been trying for a year, suspect a fertility issue or feel ready to explore their fertility options.
Choosing a fertility clinic
Success rates are just one of many factors to take into account when choosing a fertility clinic, including location, cost, support services, opening hours, patient feedback and many more.
Success rates are often highly variable and dependent on the individual characteristics of each patient, including age and reason for seeking treatment. At any clinic, we recommend that you ask your clinician what your chance of having a baby is in your own individual set of circumstances.
The HFEA advise that information on success rates is of limited value in comparing centres and choosing where to seek treatment. For more advice on how to choose a clinic, including the latest national data, please refer to the HFEA website.
Latest success rates at NUH Life
Our latest data includes DI live birth rates and IUI clinical pregnancy rates from 2020 to 2022. We’ve included the most recent available national data as reference.
Donor insemination (DI) Jan 2020 to Dec 2022
| Patient age | Number of inseminations | Clinical pregnancy rate | Live birth rate |
| <35 | 98 | 22% | 22% |
| 35-37 | 37 | 19% | 19% |
| 38-39 | 45 | 7% | 4% |
| 40-42 | 31 | 6% | 3% |
| 43-44 | 4 | 0% | 0% |
| >44 | 0 | ||
| All ages NUH Life | 215 | 16% | 15% |
| All ages HFEA national average* | 17% | 12% |
Intrauterine insemination (IUI) Jan 2020 to Dec 2022
| Patient age | Number of inseminations | Clinical pregnancy rate |
| <35 | 264 | 16% |
| 35-37 | 90 | 10% |
| 38-39 | 37 | 8% |
| 40-42 | 9 | 11% |
| 43-44 | 0 | |
| >44 | 0 | |
| All ages NUH Life | 400 | 14% |
| All ages HFEA national average** | 11% |
Key:
Data includes stimulated and unstimulated cycles for DI and IUI
A clinical pregnancy is a foetal heartbeat seen on early pregnancy scan
*Fertility treatment 2021: preliminary trends and figures, HFEA, https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/publications/research-and-data/fertility-treatment-2021-preliminary-trends-and-figures/ An age breakdown for 2020-2022 was not available
**HFEA Choose a Fertility Clinic data, 2019