Having knowledge about the influence of age on fertility is not part of the minimum targets. Given that age has a very big influence on fertility, it is still good to explain this aspect during lessons.
There is a lack of knowledge regarding the influence of age on fertility. A lot of people (adolescents as well as adults) think that women are fertile until menopausal age. However, fertility already starts to decline from the age of 30 and declines further at the age of 35. Research shows that adults would have liked to have been given this information in school. Later in life, people appear to be less open to such information.
How does age affect fertility?
Disclaimer
The words "woman" and "man" are increasingly ambiguous concepts and should be avoided where possible. For ease of communication on this platform, we use the terms "woman" and "man" when providing information about biological processes. In this context, the term "woman" refers to a person with "female" sex characteristics (e.g., vulva, uterus, ovaries, etc.), and the term "man" refers to a person with "male" sex characteristics (e.g., penis, testes), although we are aware that:
1) There are many intersex individuals or individuals with variations in sex characteristics;
2) There are many people for whom gender identity does not fully correspond to or align with sex characteristics.
When providing information about relational aspects, however, the term "woman" does not refer to biological characteristics, but rather to gender. This also includes trans women (individuals who were legally registered as male at birth based on sex characteristics but have a female gender identity) and intersex individuals (born with variations in sex characteristics) who identify as women. Similarly, the term "man" refers to gender in this context, including trans men and intersex individuals who identify as men.