The majority of single men applying to be legal parents of children born through surrogacy in the UK are over the age of 40, recent data reveals. Between 2019, when surrogacy laws were changed to grant single individuals the same parental rights as couples, and 2025, a total of 170 solo parental order applications were made by single men, according to figures released by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass).

Among these, 83 applications came from men aged 40 to 49, while 24 originated from those aged 50 to 59. There were also smaller numbers of applicants in their sixties and seventies each year. This demographic trend highlights a growing number of older single men seeking parenthood through surrogacy.

The data also indicates significant increases in parental order applications from other groups over the past decade. Applications from gay male couples rose by 191 percent, from 70 in 2015 to 204 last year. Heterosexual couples’ applications grew by 36 percent during the same period, from 225 to 307.

Much of the growth in surrogacy applications is linked to surrogacy arrangements overseas. Parental orders for children born to foreign surrogates increased by 136 percent in the last ten years, more than doubling from 151 in 2015 to 357 in 2025. In contrast, applications for children born through UK-based surrogacy rose by 23 percent, from 113 to 139 during the same timeframe.

Between 2018 and 2024, over 1,500 applications were made in England to become the legal parents of children born to surrogate mothers outside the UK. The largest proportion of these—642 cases—involved babies born to surrogates in the United States. Notably, in July 2024, a 72-year-old man in Scotland was granted legal parenthood of a three-year-old boy born via surrogacy in Oklahoma.

While engaging in international surrogacy arrangements is not illegal for British citizens, concerns have been raised by campaigners about the practice. Critics argue that the increasing reliance on foreign surrogacy is leading to the de facto acceptance of commercial surrogacy, which remains prohibited in the UK. Some also question the ethics of older single men fathering children through such means.

Lexi Ellingsworth, co-founder of the advocacy group Stop Surrogacy Now, commented that children should not be treated as commodities and emphasized the need for strict safeguards similar to those governing adoption. Helen Gibson of Surrogacy Concern expressed worries about what she described as "baby shopping" abroad, highlighting potential risks to both the surrogate mothers and the children involved.

Conversely, Louisa Ghevaert, a solicitor specializing in surrogacy law, described the rise in surrogacy-based parental applications by single and gay men as a sign of a more progressive and inclusive approach to parenthood in the UK.