Australian women are increasingly turning to sperm donors from the US and Europe amid a shortage of local White donors and increasing demand.
According to internal patient and donor records from IVF giant Genea Fertility, demand for donor sperm nearly doubled between 2022 and 2025, driven by “growing awareness of male infertility and greater acceptance of diverse family structures”, and supply is struggling to keep up.
Genea Fertility Specialist Dr Tween Low said the data also revealed a clear “mismatch” between what patients are seeking and what is available, with the most sought-after donor traits including blue eyes, dark brown hair, a height of 180cm, and a bachelor’s degree.
Available donors more commonly have brown eyes, brown or black hair, and are approximately 182cm, although education levels are broadly similar.
As a result more patients are using overseas donors, and the split between between local and international use has shifted from 66% local and 34% international in 2022, to a near-even 51% local and 49% international in 2025.
International donor sperm costs have also surged nearly 40% in just one year, with steeper increases for premium options.
“International donor markets, particularly in the US and parts of Europe, are more established, with larger donor pools, streamlined systems and greater diversity, offering patients broader choice and shorter wait times,” Dr Low said.
“Some patients also prefer overseas donors, as distance can feel less confronting under identity-release rules.”
Dr Low said Australia’s rigorous screening process and rules requiring sperm donors to make their identity available to any resulting children was impacting supply, and had resulted in fewer than 1 in 150 enquiries resulting in an available donor.
Access varies from state to state due to differing family limits, resulting in constrained supply in NSW and WA where there is a five-family worldwide donor limit.
| State | % of available donors nationally | % local donors used | % international donors used | Family limit | National vs international limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SA | 32% | 37.97% | 62.03% | 10 families | Australia |
| ACT | 22.1% | 38.2% | 61.8% | 10 families | Australia |
| QLD | 20.5% | 6.7% | 93.3% | 10 donor-related families** | Australia |
| NSW | 10.7% | 41.5% | 58.5% | 5 families | Worldwide |
| WA | 9% | 88.5% | 11.5% | 5 families | Worldwide |
| VIC | 5.7% | 59.3% | 40.7% | 10 women* | Worldwide |
*Women = same sex couples where both women carry counted as two families. **Same sex couples count as two families if both women carry. Source: Genea Fertility.
In April a patient at NSW clinic Fertility First, which operates under IVF giant Genea, revealed she turned to an overseas donor after being told there were no White sperm donors available.
Ellen, 44, said she had used a Dutch overseas sperm donor during a round of IVF last year because he matched her European heritage, and she wanted to be able to help her child understand his or her ethnicity.
But when she inquired about doing a second round she was told the previous donor was no longer available, and nor were the 70 other previously available overseas options, leaving her to choose between six local donors of Asian ethnicity.
During the same month another major IVF company, City Fertility, which has one of Australia’s largest sperm banks, only had 13 White donors out of 60 total, and Monash IVF only had four White donors nationwide.
Last year it was revealed that a White couple in Brisbane who chose a donor with fair hair and blue eyes like the father ended up with a black baby, and Australia’s biggest fertility company, Virtus Health, kept it secret for 11 years.
The mistake was caused by a US-based lab mixing up samples from two men who had donated on the same day, and the couple were given a payout in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.
Header image credit: Kelsey Farish on Unsplash.
The post Aussie women turning to international donors amid White sperm shortage first appeared on The Noticer.
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