MORE than a third of all couples who try for a baby have fertility problems, according to a survey.

But of those women in the North-East who have fertility treatment, 75 per cent say it was successful compared to an average of only 46 per cent throughout the UK.

Further south, four out of ten women in Yorkshire who have tried for a baby "have had difficulty trying to conceive", significantly higher than the UK average of 35 per cent.

The National Fertility Survey, commissioned by Red magazine, calculated that couples are spending £1.7bn in their quest to have a baby. This includes £1.07bn on in vitro fertilisation (IVF) alone, as only 23 per cent receive completely free treatment on the NHS.

On average, couples spend £4,782 on fertility treatments, but only 47 per cent of women go on to have a baby. The survey also revealed that women think they are "leaving it too late for motherhood", with the average woman not thinking about trying to have a baby until she is 30.

Experts believe that a woman's fertility peaks in her mid-20s and declines sharply after 35.

The survey also shows that 14 per cent of women under 45 in the North-East have "chosen not to have children", slightly higher than the UK average of 12 per cent.

Women in the North-East think 26 is the best age to become a mother - slightly younger than the national UK average of 27.

Three-quarters of the Yorkshire women who have tried for a baby are "concerned that their previous lifestyle may have affected their fertility."

Sam Baker, editor of RED magazine, said: ''Infertility is the issue of our age and, incredibly, we have entered the billion-pound baby era.

''Whereas the big issue for women in the Eighties and Nineties was their career and role in the workplace, now infertility is a major concern and it is one of the three main topics of conversation alongside house prices and pensions.''

The main reasons couples need fertility treatment are unexplained fertility problems (36 per cent), which could be linked to lifestyle, male fertility problems (19 per cent) and polycystic ovarian syndrome (16 per cent).

Figures also showed 33 per cent of women either already have, or would consider having a child