The BEACH program, a continuous national study of general practice activity in Australia, gives us an analysis of the management of infertility between April 1998 and March 2004. Subfertility, which accounts for about 10% of the diagnoses analysed here, is included in the label 'infertility'. Because management rates and methods differ markedly between male and female patients, each gender is analysed separately. This provides a backdrop against which relevant articles in this issue of Australian Family Physician can be further considered.