Assisted reproductive technology is involved in the births of an estimated 219,000 to 246,000 babies each year worldwide, researchers in France estimated.
The study, published online in the journal Human Reproduction, provides figures and estimates for assisted reproduction technology such as in vitro fertilization for the year 2002, the most recent year for which world figures are available.
A total of 1,563 clinics in 53 countries provided data for the report, but data were missing from several other countries, the researchers said.
However, the authors estimated that these missing countries — mostly in Asia and Africa probably performed between 10 percent to 20 percent of assisted reproduction technology procedures, and they took this into account when they calculated the total number of assisted reproduction technology babies born worldwide.
Jacques de Mouzon of the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research in Paris led the International Committee for Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technology that compiled the report.
This eighth world report, even if it is imperfect, gives data that can inform debate and decision-making,
he said in a statement.
There has been a constant increase in assisted reproduction technology activity — it increased by more than 25 percent in the two years since the previous report for the year 2000. This is due not only to an increase in the number of countries participating in this report but also to an increase in assisted reproduction technology activity in most individual countries.
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