When I first started fertility treatment, I didn’t like being part of a small minority of women trying to have a child via IVF. But it turned out that several couples I knew were in the same position and that far more children are born through IVF each year than I had originally thought. So I decided to look into the exact numbers.
Each year hundreds of thousands of children across the world are born through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) the majority of which is IVF, and this number is steadily increasing, almost tripling between 2003 and 2016. The lowest estimated number of children born through ART was 256,415 in 2005, 404,364 in 2010 and 618,451 in 2016.
For those who like all the precise details, the table below lists the exact numbers.
Lowest Estimate of Number of ART Babies Born in the World by Year
2003
232,980
2004
237,809
2005
256,415
2006
256,668
2007
311,840
2008
357,264
2009
383,230
2010
404,364
2011
500,000
2013
476,000
2014
510,000
2015
661,000
2016
618,451
These numbers come from the International Committee Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ICMART) which can be found here.
I then decided to look at the number of children born through IVF each year in specific countries: USA, UK, Australia & New Zealand (their numbers are reported together), Canada, Japan & Russia, and the number of children born through IVF each year by women of different ages. Here’s what I found.
The Number of Children Born Through IVF Each Year in the USA
Tens of thousands of children are born each year through ART in the United States. This number has more than doubled between 2000 and 2018.
Number of ART Live Born Infants in the USA by Year
2000
35,025
2001
40,687
2002
45,751
2003
48,756
2004
49,458
2005
52,041
2006
54,656
2007
57,569
2008
61,426
2009
60,190
2010
61,564
2011
61,610
2012
65,160
2013
67,996
2014
70,354
2015
72,913
2016
76,930
2017
78,052
2018
81,478
And just in case you think that in the USA only women of certain ages have children via ART, the table below shows the number of ART live births for women of different ages. As you can see, while women over 40 years of age have far less ART children than women under 40, that number has increased, between 2007 and 2016, for women under 41 by only about 50% but for women 41 – 42 by about 100% and for women over 42 by more than 200%!
Number of ART Live Births in the USA by Year & Age (with own eggs) Excluding Multiples
<35
35–37
38–40
41–42
>42
2007
20,216
8,780
5,188
1,332
326
2008
21,822
8,958
5,856
1,431
336
2009
21,540
8,687
6,048
1,523
341
2010
22,174
8,967
6,135
1,597
413
2011
22,390
9,190
6,099
1,761
492
2012
23,986
9,848
6,359
1,907
545
2013
25,000
10,434
6,565
1,975
689
2014
26,211
11,368
7,013
1,995
709
2015
28,012
12,012
7,579
2,238
810
2016
29,860
13,647
8,560
2,610
1,108
All these numbers come from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) which can be found here.
The Number of Children Born Through IVF Each Year in the UK
In the UK, the number of children born through IVF has also more than doubled between 2000 and 2018 and are in the thousands. The exact numbers are in the table below:
Number of IVF Live Births in the UK by Year
2000
9,038
2001
9,423
2002
9,884
2003
10,183
2004
10,321
2005
11,422
2006
12,786
2007
13,821
2008
15,233
2009
16,103
2010
17,080
2011
17,632
2012
17,952
2013
18,991
2014
20,042
2015
20,765
2016
21,249
2017
21,990
2018
19,728
Once again, in the UK, women of all ages are having children through IVF as the table below shows. And once again, between 2005 and 2018, the number of IVF children has increased relatively more for women over 37 (by more than 100%) than for women 37 and under.
Number of IVF Live Birth Occurrences in the UK by Year & Age (patient eggs)
<35
35 – 37
38 – 39
40 – 42
43 – 44
>44
2005
4,792
2,249
983
501
29
12
2006
5,195
2,724
1,187
568
60
19
2007
5,501
2,999
1,333
731
63
18
2008
6,194
3,114
1,449
836
85
9
2009
6,592
3,237
1,640
888
76
14
2010
7,061
3,443
1,835
1,005
97
19
2011
7,644
3,434
1,777
1,022
102
1
2012
7,939
3,383
1,817
997
111
9
2013
8,311
3,628
1,941
1,089
104
17
2014
8,896
3,983
1,917
1,098
139
15
2015
9,345
4,110
1,912
1,229
144
22
2016
9,352
4,430
2,078
1,250
149
31
2017
9,491
4,714
2,205
1,403
151
27
2018
8,662
4,057
2,135
1,262
131
28
These numbers come from the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority (HFEA) which can be found here.
The Number of Children Born Through IVF Each Year in Australia & New Zealand
The number of children born through IVF in Australia and New Zealand was 6,816 in 2002, 11,528 in 2008, 13,312 in 2012 and 15,980 in 2018. Also in the thousands and also more than doubling between 2002 and 2018.
Number of IVF Liveborn Babies in Australia & New Zealand by Year
2002
6,816
2003
7,479
2004
7,913
2005
9,283
2006
10,522
2007
10,856
2008
11,528
2009
13,114
2010
12,056
2011
12,443
2012
13,312
2013
13,715
2014
14,016
2015
14,655
2016
15,057
2017
15,405
2018
15,980
The table below shows the number of IVF children born in Australia and New Zealand for women of different ages. Once again, the increase was relatively greater for women 35 and over by about 100%.
Number of IVF Liveborn Babies in Australia & New Zealand by Year & Age
<30
30-34
35-39
40-44
>44
2005
925
3,065
3,191
914
119
2006
1,101
3,168
3,561
1,084
159
2007
1,207
3,298
4,098
1,225
132
2008
1,295
3,541
4,276
1,497
153
2009
1,377
4,048
4,970
1,732
132
2010
1,331
3,661
4,422
1,675
166
2011
1,333
3,947
4,522
1,790
177
2012
1,516
4,293
4,876
1,887
153
2013
1,566
4,475
4,989
1,945
182
2014
1,556
4,664
5,080
2,012
213
2015
1,592
4,856
5,348
2,059
240
2016
1,481
5,032
5,581
2,218
278
2017
1,573
5,149
5,849
2,142
281
2018
1,558
5,194
6,136
2,358
293
These numbers come from the Australia and New Zealand Assisted Reproduction Database (ANZARD) which can be found here.
The Number of Children Born Through IVF Each Year in Canada
While not quite doubling between 2008 and 2017, the number of children born through ART in Canada is in the thousands. 3,932 in 2008, 5,971 in 2012 and 6,903 in 2017. The rest of the numbers are present in detail in the table below:
Number of ART Live Births in Canada by Year
2008
3,932
2009
4,412
2010
4,571
2011
5,276
2012
5,971
2013
5,748
2014
6,215
2015
6,379
2016
6,514
2017
6,903
All these numbers come from the Canadian Fertility & Andrology Society which can be found here.
The Number of Children Born Through IVF Each Year in Japan
In Japan, the number of children born through ART each year is in the tens of thousands but as you can see from the steeper-than-usual (so far) line in the graph above, the number has increased between 2000 and 2018 by almost five times! The exact numbers are in the table below:
Number of ART Newborns in Japan by Year
2000
12,274
2001
13,158
2002
15,228
2003
17,400
2004
18,168
2005
19,112
2006
19,587
2007
19,595
2008
21,704
2009
26,680
2010
28,945
2011
32,426
2012
37,953
2013
42,554
2014
47,322
2015
51,001
2016
54,110
2017
56,617
2018
56,979
Whether this larger than usual increase occurred in all age ranges or just one is difficult to know because data between 2000 and 2014 was unavailable. Nonetheless we do know that women of all ages are having children through ART, as you can see in the table below:
Number of ART Live Births in Japan by Year & Age
<35
35-37
38-40
41-42
>42
2015
18,454
13,709
12,042
4,053
1,315
2016
19,819
14,287
12,697
4,408
1,293
2017
21,598
14,736
12,821
4,389
1,453
2018
22,154
14,628
12,924
4,339
1,454
These numbers come from the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG) and can be found here.
The Number of Children Born Through IVF Each Year in Russia
In recent years, the number of children born through ART in Russia has been in the tens of thousands but as you can see this was not always the case with only 866 ART babies born in 2000. Of the six countries I looked at, Russia has seen the greatest growth (and steepest graph line) as the number of children born via ART has increased between 2000 and 2018 by almost 44 times!
Number of ART Births in Russia by Year (excluding donation cycles)
2000
866
2001
1,118
2002
1,745
2003
1,830
2004
3,193
2005
3,855
2006
5,355
2007
7,184
2008
8,334
2009
9,661
2010
11,417
2011
14,533
2012
15,944
2013
17,569
2014
24,707
2015
30,039
2016
30,770
2017
33,748
2018
37,987
And this increase has occurred in all age ranges, although, as seems to be the pattern, relatively more so for older age ranges. Meaning about five times for women under 35, 6 times for women 35-39 and 8 times for women over 39!
Number of ART Births in Russia by Year & Age
<35
35-39
>39
2007
3,267
1,448
393
2008
4,129
1,648
497
2009
4,751
2,066
578
2010
5,592
2,697
1,068
2011
7,094
3,227
930
2012
7,686
3,606
1,103
2013
8,126
4,079
1,219
2014
11,676
5,760
1,911
2015
14,085
7,464
2,476
2016
15,037
7,259
2,438
2017
16,493
8,097
3,022
2018
17,438
9,148
3,203
These numbers come from the Russian National ART Register and can be found here.
Some Concrete Takeaways From All the Numbers
There are a number of things that we can see from the numbers presented:
A lot of children are born through IVF each year across the world. Hundreds of thousands in fact.
Women of all ages are having children through IVF.
The number of children born through IVF is increasing each year, in all countries and across all age groups (see this article where I talk about this in more detail).
Children born through IVF are still only a small minority (see this article I have written for the exact percentages) but it’s a large enough minority that you shouldn’t feel alone.
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