Our sperm donor requirements focus on age, health, sperm quality, and risk behaviour to ensure only healthy candidates move forward and donate to families. The criteria are presented below.
Sperm donor requirements at a glance
To become a sperm donor at Cryos, candidates must meet the following minimum requirements:
- Be 18-45 years old.
- Have good sperm quality.
- Have a good physical and mental health.
- Provide a detailed family medical history (three generations).
- Submit regular blood and urine samples for testing.
These criteria are absolutely essential to ensure that only healthy, high-quality donor sperm is available for recipients.
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Do you qualify to be a sperm donor?
Join Cryos and make a difference by helping families achieve their dreams of parenthood. As a donor, you will receive compensation and regular health check-ups.
Why do we have these requirements?
While some requirements, such as those from the Danish Health Authority, are mandatory, others are set by Cryos’ internal medical team to ensure the highest quality donor sperm. Below are the key criteria explained:
- Age (18-45): Men in this age range typically produce healthier sperm. Younger donors (under 25) are further assessed to ensure they understand the responsibilities of donation.
- Good sperm quality: Sperm is tested to ensure great quality and make sure that it can survive freezing and still fertilize an egg.
- Good physical and mental health: Donors are tested and screened to ensure they are healthy and do not have conditions that could affect recipients or children born from the donation.
- Family medical history: Donors must share a three-generation medical history to help rule out inherited diseases.
- Regular blood and urine tests: These tests ensure that donors stay healthy and that their sperm is safe to use.
Find your sperm donor for free
In our Sperm Donor Search, you can use filters to find a donor that matches your preferences. Click the button below to create a free account and see all available donors.
Other criteria when donating sperm
Just as when donating blood, there is a long list of sperm donor requirements – some involve testing while others can be determined rather quickly.
A donor candidate will be rejected if he:
…has certain medical conditions
During the sperm donor screening, donor candidates are tested for several diseases in a clinical examination, and via blood and urine tests. However, if – upon applying – a sperm donor candidate can say yes to having certain diseases or conditions such as venereal warts or condylomas, and/or haemophilia or another coagulation disease, he does not qualify for sperm donation and will be rejected.
…has already donated sperm at another sperm bank than Cryos
To ensure that the limit of pregnancies achieved by the same donor is not exceeded, a donor is only allowed to donate at one sperm bank. At Cryos, we furthermore control this by offering a limited number of Quota Reservations in countries operating with national quotas.
…is adopted or donor-conceived himself
Part of our thorough screening is to determine and assess the medical history of not only the donor but the extended family (in three generations). If a donor candidate cannot provide a detailed medical history of his genetic origins, e.g., if he is adopted or donor-conceived himself, he will not be accepted as a donor.
…practises a risk behaviour that is unsuitable with sperm donation
Some activities will either require quarantine or are incompatible with sperm donation altogether. Examples of risk behaviour that will cause us to reject a donor candidate could be if he has provided sex to others for money or drugs or injects medicines for non-medical reasons.
- Travelling to high-risk countries or areas
- Getting tattooed or pierced by an un-authorized tattoo artist
- Having sex with a person who is presumed to have contagious hepatitis or an HIV infection
You can read all the reasons why you might be rejected as a sperm donor here.
Upon each sperm donation, the sperm donor will be asked if there has been any change in his risk behaviour since his last sperm donation. If so, the Cryos staff will assess the risk and – if relevant – perform extra tests. This is to minimize the risk of transmitting infectious diseases from the donor.
Want to learn more about sperm donation?
In addition to the preliminary sperm donor requirements described above, all donor candidates will be thoroughly tested and screened before being approved as donors. And the testing will continue on a regular basis, once the actual sperm donation begins.
If you would like to know more, you can read about sperm donation at Cryos and the different steps from application to sperm donation or visit our blog post about sperm donor compensation and pay.
Frequently asked questions about sperm donor requirements
How many times can you donate sperm?
A sperm donor can typically donate once or twice a week - sometimes more often. The amount of times a sperm donor can donate depends on the quality of their sperm.
Are sperm donors fathers to children born as a result of their donation?
No, sperm donors will never be regarded as the legal father or have any responsibility towards any children born as a result of their sperm donations.
Can sperm donors be anonymous?
Yes, sperm donors can choose to be Non-ID Release, meaning that their contact information will never be accessible for children born from their donation or parents to donor-conceived children.