Egg Donation in Spain: About €1,000, and Anonymous by Law

Spain leads Europe in egg donation, according to the Spanish outlet El Salto. In 2019, 14,521 women there donated eggs, according to figures reported by El Salto.¹ The same report counted nearly 18,500 treatment cycles for patients from abroad.¹

Two rules shape that market. Spanish law makes every donor anonymous, and it caps what a donor may receive at compensation for her time and costs.² This article compares those rules with the UK, Greece, Czechia and the US.

Donor rules at a glance

The amounts are not converted to one currency, and they are not all from the same year. The sections below give each source.

Spain: anonymous, and capped by law

Law 14/2006 sets the rules. Article 5 says donation "never" has a profit or commercial character.² Any compensation may cover only "the physical discomfort and the travel and work expenses" of donating, and may not be an economic incentive.² The same article says donation "will be anonymous".² Identity can be revealed only in extraordinary cases, such as a real danger to the child's life or health.²

Sources disagree on the amount. The fertility information site Invitra puts compensation at €800 to €1,000. It says the figure was set by the health ministry on the advice of the national assisted reproduction commission.³ El Salto reported a legal maximum of €900, with some clinics paying up to €1,200.¹ The data journalism site Civio put it at around €1,000 in 2022.⁴ The gap may reflect clinics paying differently within guidance, rather than a single fixed sum. We did not find the ministry's own figure published.

The law also limits each donor to six children born in Spain.² El Salto reported that no public registry exists to check that limit.¹

UK: a fixed sum, and no anonymity

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) raised egg donor compensation from £750 to £985 on 1 October 2024.⁵ It was the first rise since 2011.⁵ The HFEA says the sum covers time and expenses and is not meant as a financial incentive.⁵

Children born from donated eggs in the UK can learn the donor's identity at 18.⁵ That is the main legal difference from Spain.

Greece and Czechia

Greece reformed its law in 2022. Law 4958/2022 lets donors choose to be anonymous or identified.⁶ It leaves the amount of compensation to be set by the national assisted reproduction authority.⁶ Civio reported €1,200 for Greece in 2022.⁴

Czechia keeps donors anonymous. In 2024, the health ministry proposed a maximum of about €1,000, or CZK 25,100, according to Expats.cz.⁷ The same report said more than 3,500 foreign women had IVF (in vitro fertilisation) treatment in Czechia in 2020.⁷

US: no cap

The US sets no legal limit. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) once advised that payments over $5,000 needed justification and over $10,000 were not appropriate, according to a 2007 report.⁸ Its current ethics opinion, from 2021, sets no dollar figure.⁹ It says payment should reflect time and discomfort and should not vary with the number or quality of eggs retrieved.⁹

What donors are offered varies widely. A 2024 study in BMC Women's Health looked at 103 online advertisements from 2020.¹⁰ Eleven offered more than $20,000, and 8 of those 11 recruited women under 21.¹⁰ Agencies targeting students or a specific race were more likely to offer over $10,000.¹⁰ We did not find a recent national average.

What the headline numbers leave out

Anonymity is a policy, and policies change. Spain's Bioethics Committee voted unanimously in January 2020 to recommend ending donor anonymity, without applying it to past donations.¹¹ As of October 2026, Article 5 of the law still says donation is anonymous.²

Compensation is not the price you pay. The donor's share is a small part of the treatment bill. For what patients pay, see the cost of IVF in Greece and Spain.

How to use these rules

Decide first whether you want your child to be able to trace the donor. If you do, Spain and Czechia do not allow it. The UK does, from 18, and Greece leaves it to the donor.

Then check who may be treated. Countries also differ on age limits and single women's access; see our guide to IVF abroad eligibility rules.

Ask the clinic for the donor rules in writing, including what non-identifying information you will receive.

Footnotes

1. https://www.elsaltodiario.com/reproduccion-asistida/donacion-ovulos-clinicas-mercantilizacion-disfrazada-altruismo — El Salto, Estefanía M. Amador and Lis Gaibar, "Donación de óvulos: mercantilización disfrazada de altruismo" (published May 13, 2022; updated Aug 13, 2024). Accessed Oct 16, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2006-9292 — Boletín Oficial del Estado, "Ley 14/2006, de 26 de mayo, sobre técnicas de reproducción humana asistida", consolidated text (last updated Jul 14, 2015). Accessed Oct 16, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

3. https://invitra.com/en/ovodonation-price-spain/economic-compensation-oocyte-donation — inviTRA, "Economic compensation for oocyte donation" (updated Jan 17, 2023). Accessed Oct 16, 2026. ↩

4. https://civio.es/sanidad/2022/03/07/egg-sperm-donors-financial-compensation-europe/ — Civio, Ángela Bernardo, egg and sperm donor compensation across Europe (published Mar 7, 2022). Accessed Oct 16, 2026. ↩ ↩²

5. https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/our-blog/our-director-of-strategy-and-corporate-affairs-clare-ettinghausen-comments-on-the-upcoming-donor-compensation-increase/ — Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, blog post by Clare Ettinghausen on the donor compensation increase (2024). Accessed Oct 16, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. https://www.taxheaven.gr/law/4958/2022/arthro/5 — Law 4958/2022 (Greece), Article 5, as reproduced by Taxheaven. Accessed Oct 16, 2026. ↩ ↩²

7. https://www.expats.cz/czech-news/article/czechia-moves-to-make-egg-donations-safer-for-women — Expats.cz, "Czechia moves to make egg donations safer for women" (published Aug 12, 2024). Accessed Oct 16, 2026. ↩ ↩²

8. https://www.progress.org.uk/new-survey-of-us-egg-donor-payments/ — PET (Progress Educational Trust), "New survey of US egg donor payments" (published Jun 4, 2007), reporting a Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology survey. Accessed Oct 16, 2026. ↩

9. https://www.asrm.org/practice-guidance/ethics-opinions/financial-compensation-of-oocyte-donors-an-ethics-committee-opinion/ — American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Ethics Committee, "Financial compensation of oocyte donors: an Ethics Committee opinion" (2021). Accessed Oct 16, 2026. ↩ ↩²

10. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11414041/ — Lake R., Berzansky I., Lanes A. et al., BMC Women's Health, "Informed consent and coercion in recruitment advertisements for oocyte donors" (published Sep 2024). Accessed Oct 16, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³

11. https://www.eldiario.es/sociedad/comite-bioetica-determina-donaciones-espermatozoides_1_1144997.html — elDiario.es, "El Comité de Bioética Español determina que las donaciones de espermatozoides y óvulos no deberían ser anónimas" (published Feb 6, 2020). Accessed Oct 16, 2026. ↩

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