# a woman will have around 500 menstrual cycle's in her lifetime > With a cycle length of 28 days, a woman would ovulate about 13 ova per year, or 481 ova in the 37 years from puberty to the end of her reproductive (childbearing) life.[[Human Reproductive Biology by Richard E. Jones & Kristin H. Lopez#^1rvht]] - Reduced number due to pregnancy, lactation & HCPs > The attrition continues, though at a more sedate pace, throughout a woman's youth and early middle age. At most, 450 of her eggs will be solicited for ovulation, and far fewer than that if she spends a lot of time being pregnant and thus not ovulating. Yet by menopause, few if any eggs remain in the ovaries. The rest have vanished. The body has reclaimed them.[[Woman by Natalie Angier#^-2fb0]]