More than 13 million people around the world have been born thanks to in vitro fertilization (IVF), according to the first global estimates of their kind.
Since the birth of the first “test tube” baby in 1978, the use of IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has surged, resulting in millions of births.
A Baby Born Every 35 Seconds Through ART, with IVF Leading the Way
Currently, a baby conceived through ART is born roughly every 35 seconds, with IVF—the process of fertilizing an egg with sperm outside the body—being the most widely used technique.
To determine the total number of ART-conceived births since the technology’s early days, an international team of researchers analyzed health data from 101 countries.
As of 2018, researchers estimate that between 10 and 13 million babies had been born through assisted reproductive technologies (ART), with early data from 2018 to 2023 suggesting an additional 3 to 4 million births.
“We provide annual estimates of ART births from the previous year, but we’ve never applied a consistent method and data extrapolation to calculate the total number of ART births globally,” explains lead author Georgina Chambers, an epidemiologist at the University of New South Wales.
While the estimates aren’t exact, Chambers and her team consider them “a reasonable and sound approximation” derived from “the most reliable data currently available.”
The figures are based on data from the International Committee Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ICMART), where Chambers serves as the data custodian.
Australia Pioneered IVF Registries in the 1980s, but Global Reporting Remains Uneven
In the early 1980s, Australia became the first nation to create an IVF registry. Since then, many high-income countries have implemented similar systems. However, others, such as Singapore, either lack official registries that report to ICMART, or have experienced long delays in reporting, as seen in China.
Even when national registries exist, some regions or clinics—like those in the U.S., India, and parts of Africa—do not submit data to ICMART.
To address these data gaps, researchers estimated ART usage by counting the number of clinics in each country and using that coverage rate to project national ART figures. They also adjusted for miscarriage rates when only pregnancy data—not birth outcomes—were available.
Based on these methods, the team estimates that between 9.4 million and 12.4 million babies were born using ART in 101 countries over the past 40 years, with a sharp rise in births beginning around the early 2000s.
Europe Leads IVF Births as Two Decades Boost Access and Success
Europe leads globally with an estimated 3.6 to 4.5 million babies born through IVF, followed by Asia with 3 to 4 million, and North America with 1.4 to 1.6 million.
Over the past 20 years, IVF has advanced significantly—becoming more affordable, safer, and increasingly effective.
While IVF still doesn’t guarantee success, UK health data show that the average pregnancy rate using frozen embryos has risen from 7% in the 1990s to 36% by 2021.
It’s no longer necessary to transfer multiple embryos to boost success rates. As a result, the number of IVF-related twin and triplet births has dropped sharply.
“Today, over 93% of IVF procedures involve transferring just one embryo, leading to a multiple birth rate of under 3%,” notes Chambers.
“The majority of IVF births in Australia now result from frozen embryo transfers.”
“As the number of IVF births continues to add,” Chambers says, “we hope to see more equitable access to safe, high-quality care globally—guided by principles of human rights.”
Read the original article on: Sciencealert
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