By MIREI JINGUJI/ Staff Writer
August 30, 2023 at 17:33 JST
An embryo cultivator checks the conditions of a fertilized egg in the in-vitro fertilization process in Osaka. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
In contrast to the falling birthrate in Japan, in-vitro fertilization is on the rise in the country, with a record number of babies born through the process in 2021.
Compared with the previous year, the figure increased by 15 percent to 69,797, according to data released on Aug. 29 by the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The total number of births in 2021 was around 811,000, meaning one in every 11.6 babies was born via IVF, where doctors fertilize eggs with sperm outside the body.
The figure was one in every 13.9 births in 2020.
By age, 39-year-olds were the largest group of patients with more than 39,000 treatments, followed by 40- and 41-year-olds.
Although the number of IVF procedures had remained almost unchanged at around 450,000 since 2016, the figure increased to more than 498,000 in 2021.
In 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the figure fell below the previous year’s level for the first time since the society started collecting data in 1986.
Fertility treatments have been covered by public health insurance since 2022.
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