How Many Eggs Does a Woman Have?

One of the most common questions in female fertility, especially for women thinking about egg freezing, is, “How many eggs do I have?”

The answer isn’t one-size-fits-all. How many eggs a woman has depends on age and individual biology. Women are born with a fixed supply of eggs, and that number naturally declines over time.

Because the variation between individuals is so significant, fertility specialists often recommend testing to get a clearer picture of your own ovarian reserve.

But egg count is only part of the story. Egg quality also matters. Both factors play a critical role in fertility outcomes.

In this article, we’ll look at how many eggs a woman has over a lifetime, how doctors measure ovarian reserve, and why quality is just as important as quantity.

Fast Facts

• A woman reaches her peak egg supply around 20 weeks of gestation, before birth, with an estimated 6–8 million eggs. No new eggs are ever produced after this point.
• From that time forward, eggs are continually lost through a natural cell death process known as atresia.
• Beginning at puberty, a new group of eggs is recruited each day to start developing. The number of eggs drawn from this “waiting pool” depends on age.
• During peak reproductive years, about 30–40 eggs begin developing daily, roughly 1,000 each month. Of these, only about one in ten enters a menstrual cycle, and typically just one fully matures and is ovulated.
• Over her reproductive years, a woman will use approximately 300,000–400,000 eggs, though only 300–400 are actually ovulated.
• Menopause typically occurs around age 52, when the ovarian reserve is depleted.
• Egg quality is distinct from quantity but closely linked. Both quality and quantity decline with age, influencing overall fertility potential.

How Many Eggs Does a Woman Have at Birth?

A woman is typically born with around 1-2 million eggs in their ovaries .

Unlike men, who continuously produce new sperm throughout life, women stop making eggs before they are even born.

By about 20 weeks of gestation—halfway through pregnancy—a female fetus has already produced all the eggs she will ever have, typically around 6–8 million.

How Many Eggs Does a Woman Have At Puberty?

Although menstruation and the ability to conceive don’t begin until around ages 10–15, eggs are continuously lost throughout infancy and adolescence.

A prepubescent girl loses about 10,000 eggs each month through a natural degenerative process. By the time puberty begins, only about 300,000–400,000 eggs remain in the ovaries. .

How Many Eggs Does a Woman Have at 30?

Of course, when talking about egg counts in a woman’s 30s, we’re speaking in averages. Women in their early 30s generally have a more substantial ovarian reserve than those in their late 30s, when the decline becomes more pronounced.

At age 30, the average ovarian reserve is around 100,000–150,000 eggs. By 35, that number typically drops to about 80,000. In the late 30s, it may fall to 25,000, 10,000, or fewer.

How Many Eggs Does a Woman Have at 40?

After the sharp decline that begins around age 37, a woman’s ovarian reserve by age 40 is often estimated at just 5,000–10,000 eggs.

Still, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. While the chances of natural conception in the 40s are generally low, some women do conceive naturally at this stage of life, and many more achieve pregnancy with the help of IVF or donor egg IVF.

How Many Eggs Does a Woman Have at 50?

By age 50, most women have only a few hundred eggs left, if any. The average age of menopause is 51–52, though factors such as smoking can lead to an earlier onset.

Chemotherapy and radiation can have a profoundly damaging effect on egg quantity, often leading to a significant reduction in ovarian reserve.

When a woman’s egg supply is depleted, the ovaries stop producing estrogen, and menopause begins.

What Happens to All the Lost Eggs?

At the peak of fertility, a woman loses about 1,000 eggs every month but only ovulates one. Why evolution hasn’t developed a more efficient system remains unclear, but we do know a great deal about how and why most eggs never reach ovulation.

• Recruitment: Each day, 30–40 eggs leave the waiting pool and begin to develop. At any given time, about 500–1,000 eggs are in some stage of development.

• Development Timeline: It takes roughly 85–90 days for an egg to develop from the time it’s recruited until ovulation. About 70 of those days occur before the menstrual cycle, during which it might be released.

• FSH Sensitivity: Around day 70, eggs become sensitive to follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). At the start of a new menstrual cycle, rising FSH levels select one of these eggs for the final phase of development and potential ovulation.

• Egg Loss: Eggs recruited too early die off before they can respond to FSH. Eggs recruited too late are not yet sensitive enough and will also be lost. Only those within a narrow developmental window have a chance of being ovulated.

In other words, the vast majority of eggs recruited each cycle—nearly all but one—never make it to ovulation.

As you can see, only eggs that leave the waiting pool in a narrow window, about 70 days before the start of a cycle, have a chance of being selected for ovulation.

The number of eggs leaving the resting pool each day depends heavily on age. In the teens and twenties, about 30–40 eggs are recruited daily. By the late 30s, that number may drop to 10 or fewer.

This natural process is also the basis for why IVF is so effective. In a natural cycle, one follicle has more FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) receptors than the others.

It responds most strongly, grows quickly, and becomes the single egg that is ovulated, while the rest die off.

During IVF, however, high doses of FSH are given. This “rescues” many of the eggs that are at the right stage (around 70 days old), stimulating not just the dominant follicle but dozens of others.

In ideal cases, this can recruit close to 100 eggs, though in practice, IVF typically yields 5–30 mature eggs per cycle.

How Do I Know How Many Eggs I Have Right Now?

Unfortunately, there is no foolproof way to know exactly how many eggs you have—or how healthy they are. That said, fertility specialists use a few key tests to estimate ovarian reserve.

• Bloodwork (AMH Test): The anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) test measures the level of AMH in the blood. AMH is produced by cells in the ovarian follicles and offers an estimate of how many eggs remain and how the ovaries might respond to fertility medications. Higher AMH levels generally suggest a larger egg reserve. For fertile women, typical AMH levels range from 1.0–4.0 ng/ml, though values vary with age. AMH is not perfectly stable from month to month, so it should be interpreted as part of a bigger picture.
• Transvaginal Ultrasound (Antral Follicle Count): A transvaginal ultrasound can be used to count visible antral follicles—small fluid-filled sacs in the ovaries, each containing an immature egg. The number of antral follicles helps estimate overall ovarian reserve. Younger women typically have more follicles because more eggs are leaving the waiting pool each day, while older women generally show fewer.

Are Egg Quality and Quantity Related?

While egg quantity and egg quality are not the same, both are strongly influenced by age.

Unlike egg count, there is no direct test to measure egg quality. The only proper way to assess it is through fertilization and seeing whether an egg develops into an embryo and, ideally, whether that embryo is healthy.

This can be evaluated with preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) or, ultimately, through a successful pregnancy.

Research clearly demonstrates the link between age and declining egg quality. For example, a large study of more than 15,000 embryo biopsies found that the proportion of abnormal embryos rises sharply as women get older. This increase in abnormal embryos reflects the decline in egg quality that accompanies aging.

Although egg quantity and quality don’t always decline at the same rate, there is strong evidence that as ovarian reserve decreases and age increases, the average egg is more likely to be of lower quality.

How Many Eggs Does a Woman Have: The Bottom Line

Women have all the eggs they will ever produce by about 20 weeks of gestation, while still a fetus in their mother’s womb.

At that point, the ovaries contain roughly 6–8 million eggs. From then on, the egg supply steadily declines. By birth, only 1–2 million remain, and by puberty, the number is closer to 300,000–400,000.

During the reproductive years, about 1,000 eggs are lost each month, but typically only one is ovulated.

The exact number of eggs a woman has at any given time depends on age as well as factors like smoking, chemotherapy, and radiation. Because there is so much natural variation, fertility testing can provide a clearer estimate of ovarian reserve. For those concerned about a declining egg count, egg freezing is a medical option that can help preserve fertility for the future.