More women over 40 are undergoing IVF treatment says the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HEFA).
Goverment policy to have 50% of young women graduates and the desire to have careers is putting women off having children under the late thirties early forties.
In 2006 15.5% of all treatment cycles of IVF were for women who were 40-45 compared with 10.7% in 2000 and just 9.2% in 1991. Half of all Britains births are to mothers aged over 30 compared with just over a third of those over 20.
In 1991 there were only 596 IVF cycles with women aged 41 in 2006 this number had increased tenfold to 6,174 women aged between 40-45 using their own eggs. But the rate of IVF treatment for women under 35 fell from 56% in 1991 to 40% in 2006.
Yet despite the steep rise in women over 40 undergoing IVF treatment the success rate still remains very low. In 1991 there was only a 7.6% of women aged 40 who had IVF treatment this has risen to 11.8% in 2004. There has also been a rise in successful cycles in women aged 28 from 19.1% in 1991 to 25.7% in 2004.
Women who choose to take the IVF option are warned of the increased risks including problem pregnancies, miscarriages and stillbirths as well as a greater chance of the child developing Down's Syndrome and other genetic disorders.
Professor Ledger at University of Sheffield said: "The problem is egg quality goes down with age and IVF is not really a very good way to tackle that, and so success rates are poor."