Interesting survey of the attitude and beliefs of millennials on family building. The key findings are:

  • 1 in 2 millennial men and women are delaying starting a family.
  • 53 percent of millennial women would consider freezing their eggs, driven by not having sufficient financial means for a child yet (42 percent), choosing to focus on a career (39 percent), health issues (34 percent), indecision about having a family (32 percent), focus on education (25 percent), and not having a partner to parent with yet (18 percent).
  • 7 in 10 millennial women say they understand the impact of a woman’s age on fertility, but 68 percent of them weren’t aware that 40-50 percent of women over age 35 need medical intervention, such as IVF, in order to become pregnant.
  • 58 percent of millennial women believe they should check their fertility health between ages 25 and 34, while doctors recommend fertility be checked by age 25.
    37 percent of millennial women are open to using IVF to get pregnant.
  • 47 percent of all people surveyed believe health insurance companies should cover fertility treatments. 51 percent think everyone, regardless of their marital status or sexuality, should be eligible for fertility benefits.
  • Most millennials talk to their OB-GYN (86 percent) or primary care physician (76 percent) about their fertility. But many also turn to Google searches (74 percent), health sites like Healthline.com (69 percent), and fertility organization websites (68 percent) to find answers to their fertility questions.

The recent survey found that putting off parenthood is also a reality for 1 in 2 millennial men and women. Between 2007 and 2012, for example, birth rates among 20-something women declined more than 15 percent.

That’s not to say this generation doesn’t want to settle down and have kids. In fact, a Gallup poll found that 87 percent of millennials say they want children someday.

But as millennials’ ages increase, their fertility decreases more dramatically than most of them realize.