Working Papers in Economics,
University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics

Abstract: Based on a survey of a random sample of Swedish females aged 20-40 this paper investigates: (1) whether women have correct perception of the age-related risk of female infertility, (2) whether the perceptions of the personal risk and the general risk in the own age group differ from each other, and (3) which factors can explain the difference between the stated personal and general risks if there are any. The results show that women do know that the likelihood of being infertile increases with age, while they clearly overestimate the general risks for women older than 34. The results also show that mothers have a too optimistic picture of their own fertility, while non-mothers have not. Several factors that explain differences between the stated personal and general risks are discussed.

Keywords: personal risk; general risk; female infertility; optimistic bias

JEL-codes: D81; I10; J13

25 pages, First version: October 14, 2006. Revised: April 9, 2008.

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