A new fertility calculator created by Dutch researchers reveals women wanting three children should start trying at 23.
Calculating the success rate of not only starting a family, but completing it, the computer model says there’s a 90 per cent chance women will be able to have three children if they start at age 23.
For women wanting to children, they should start at 27. And for women only wanting one child, they should start trying at 32 years old, with the data showing a 90 per cent success rate.
If women wanting three children start at 35-year-old, without IVF, there’s only a 50 per cent chance of success.
However, with IVF there is a 90 per cent success rate.
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Dik Habbema, who led the study at Erasmus University says the calculator aims to help couples make an educated decision when discussing parenthood.
“We have tried to fill a missing link in the decision-making process,” Habbema told New Scientist.
“My son is 35 and many of his friends have a problem deciding when to have children because there are so many things they want to do.”
To create the model researchers used data from over 300 years and up to the 1970’s. While critics say the data is too dated, Habbema says it was important to use data from populations where contraception wasn’t commonly used to get the most accurate results.
“We need data from populations in which couples try to have as many children as possible, and these populations are scarce,” Habbema told New Scientist.
For the study describing the computer model click here.
