Louise Brown, the world’s first “test-tube baby” was born forty years ago. Since then, an incredible number of babies have been born thanks to advanced science. And that number is still growing.
According to Science Daily, more than 8 million babies worldwide have been born “as a result of IVF and other advanced fertility treatments.” Further, it is estimated that more than 500,000 babies are born each year thanks to IVF and similar fertility treatments. (Approximately 2 million treatments are performed annually.) The estimates were determined from data collected from regional registries over the course of 23 years. Other treatments that were included in the data set are intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) as well as egg donation.
In Europe, Spain is the most active country when it comes to assisted reproduction. A “record 119,875 treatment cycles were performed in Spain, which now sets the pace of European treatment ahead of Russia (110,723 cycles), Germany (96,512) and former front-runner France (93,918).”
The occurrences of embryo freezing by vitrification (ultra-rapid freezing) have also increased, and this, in turn, has increased egg donation treatments. “All embryos in 15% of all treatment cycles monitored in 2015 were frozen before thawing and transfer in a subsequent cycle,” according to Science Daily. Thanks to the success of vitrification, treatments with frozen eggs have seen the most upward movement.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member