IVF could reverse birth rates
Updated on 04 April 2007
Increasing support for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) could reverse falling birth rates in developed countries, new research suggests.
Denmark's comparatively high birth rate appears to be down to its wider take-up of IVF, according to New Scientist.
The Scandinavian country has a birth rate of about 1.9 children per woman - higher than the US and most of the rest of Europe, the magazine reported.
In 2002 4.2% of babies in Denmark were born through artificial reproductive technologies (ART) like IVF - compared with 1.4% in the UK and 1.2% in the US in 2004.
Scientists at Austria's Vienna Institute of Demography calculated likely future birth rates for Danish women with and without ART.
Researcher Tomas Sobotka said: "The surprise was that with ART, (the birth rate) appears to remain stable for women born in the 1970s. Without ART it declines below 1.8 children per woman."
The findings suggest increasing government funding for IVF could boost flagging birth rates.
But the researchers - who presented their findings to the Population Association of America last week - warned making ART more affordable could backfire by encouraging women to put off having children even longer.
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