Women are born with about 1–2 million immature eggs in their ovaries, but this number has already fallen from roughly 6–7 million eggs present when they were a fetus at around 20 weeks of gestation.

How many eggs are women born with?

Quick Scoop

  • Around 6–7 million eggs at about 20 weeks of fetal development (while still in the womb).
  • By birth , this has dropped to roughly 1–2 million eggs.
  • By puberty , only about 300,000–500,000 remain.
  • Over a lifetime, only 300–400 of those eggs are actually ovulated; the rest naturally die off.

Women do not make new eggs after birth; the supply only declines with age until menopause, when fewer than about 1,000 eggs are left and periods stop.

Tiny timeline of egg count

Think of the egg supply like a big “bank account” that’s filled before birth and then slowly spent down over time.

  • 20 weeks of pregnancy (fetus with ovaries): about 6–7 million eggs.
  • At birth: around 1–2 million eggs.
  • At puberty: about 300,000–500,000 eggs.
  • 20s: often estimated around 150,000–300,000 eggs.
  • Early 30s: roughly 100,000–150,000 eggs.
  • Around 37: about 25,000 eggs on average.
  • Around 40: often quoted 5,000–10,000 eggs.
  • At menopause: under 1,000 eggs remaining.

Why don’t we use all those eggs?

Each month, the body starts to develop a group of eggs, but usually only one fully matures and is released (ovulated); the rest in that group simply break down.

  • Over the reproductive years, roughly 300,000–400,000 eggs are “used,” but only 300–400 ever get ovulated.
  • The rest quietly disappear through a natural process called atresia (egg loss over time), whether a person is pregnant, on birth control, or not sexually active.

An example: someone might start life with 1.5 million eggs, hit puberty with 400,000, and then ovulate about 350 times in their life, with the rest of the eggs fading away gradually.

Forum-style notes and current chatter

“If we’re born with a million eggs, why is getting pregnant in the late 30s harder?”

Recent health articles and fertility forums often emphasize that it’s not just how many eggs are left, but also egg quality , which declines with age, especially after the mid-30s. People in their late 20s and 30s increasingly talk about egg freezing, ovarian reserve testing (like AMH blood tests), and long-term family planning as awareness of this biology spreads.

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Women are born with about 1–2 million eggs, down from 6–7 million as a fetus, and this number steadily declines until menopause, when fewer than 1,000 remain.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.