1 in 6 Albertans struggle with infertility

What is infertility?

According to The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, on average, it takes a couple 5 or 6 months to become pregnant. However, about 1 in 6 Canadian couples experience infertility.

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine defines infertility as:

  • The inability to achieve a successful pregnancy based on a patient’s medical, sexual, and reproductive history, age, physical findings, diagnostic testing, or any combination of those factors.
  • The need for medical intervention, including, but not limited to, the use of donor gametes or donor embryos in order to achieve a successful pregnancy either as an individual or with a partner.
  • In patients having regular, unprotected intercourse and without any known etiology for either partner suggestive of impaired reproductive ability, evaluation should be initiated at 12 months when the female partner is under 35 years of age and at 6 months when the female partner is 35 years of age or older.

Causes of infertility

Infertility is both a male and a female concern. It can be the result of a female factor, a male factor, or a combination of both. 

  • 30% of the time, the cause is in men
  • 40% of the time, the cause is in women
  • 30% of the time, the cause is a mix of both male and female factors, or is unknown

Fertility Rates

According to Statistics Canada, the country's total fertility rate (TFR) in 2024 was 1.25 children per woman, a record low. Alberta's TFR is slightly higher at 1.41. A population generally needs a TFR of around 2.1 children per woman to sustain itself against mortality.

In addition, Canada is among the late-childbearing countries, with the average age of mothers at the time of delivery being 31.8 years in 2022.  

Alberta Numbers

  • About 250,000 of Albertans struggle with infertility, in addition to the many others who require fertility treatments to build their families for other reasons.
  • The average cost of IVF is $20,000 per cycle and it often takes 2-3 cycles to be successful.
  • Working directly with fertility clinics, we have learned that 250 patients are referred to 1 of Alberta’s 4 fertility clinics every week. That’s a total of 13,000 referrals a year, but less than 20%, proceed with treatment!
  • In our 2023 patient survey, we learned that 74% of patients who did not proceed with needed treatments stated cost as the barrier.
  • Nearly 1/2 of the patients that did proceed with treatments required a loan to cover the cost.
  • The majority of Alberta employers do not include fertility and family building in their employee health benefits.