The number of women applying to become surrogates has increased in the UK over the past two years, while the number of intended parents has remained constant.
While around 65 women a year applied to become surrogates in the three years before the pandemic, 428 women applied to become surrogates in 2022, 626 women applied to be surrogates in 2021 and 75 made applications in 2020, according to Surrogacy UK, an organisation that matches surrogates and intended parents in the UK.
Sarah Jones, head of Surrogacy UK and a surrogate herself told the Independent: 'Lots of people have lots of different reasons why they choose to be surrogates. Some enjoy pregnancy, or wanted to experience pregnancy but didn’t want children – the number of child-free surrogates has increased in recent years. Also, lots of people want to help LGBT+ parents – that is one of the biggest reasons for the uptick.'