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Nearly “one child in every classroom” is now born through IVF in the UK with egg-freezing hitting a record high, the fertility regulator has said, as people increasingly delay parenthood against a backdrop of historically low birth rates.
More single patients and female same-sex couples are opting for assisted fertility treatments, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority found, highlighting how the sector “could develop in the years to come”, according to chair Julia Chain.
“IVF is helping more people have babies, including patients of different ages and family types,” she said.
Babies born from in vitro fertilisation, or IVF, rose from about 8,700 in 2000 to 20,700 in 2023, corresponding to about one in 32 UK births, or “around one child in every classroom”, according to HFEA data released on Thursday.
This comes as egg freezing, a procedure where a woman’s eggs are collected and frozen for use at a later date, is on the rise.
There was a 67 per cent increase in egg freezing among patients aged 30-34 from 2022 to 2023, with the number rising from 1,200 cycles to 2,000. Among 35 to 37-year-olds it rose 53 per cent.
Across all age groups, the number rose to a record high of nearly 7,000 in 2023, more than double the 2,500 in 2019, before the pandemic when treatments were affected by Covid-19 restrictions.
“More people are freezing their eggs to have more choices and perhaps as an insurance against hitting age-related fertility issues in the future,” said Bernice Kuang, a research fellow in demography at the University of Southampton.
“It may also take the pressure off partnerships formed later in life and give young people more time to settle into their relationships instead of feeling rushed to make partnership decisions,” she added.
The findings come as fertility rates in England and Wales dropped to 1.44 children per woman, the lowest since records began in 1938. The decline has implications for economic growth and public finances, as fewer births could lead to a shrinking share of the working age population.
Some experts said the shift was linked to people postponing parenthood amid economic, housing and job challenges, lack of a partner and difficulties in striking the right work-life balance.
“Parents are starting to have children in their early 30s when their ability to conceive starts to wane,” said Melinda Mills, professor of demography and population health at the University of Oxford.
“It is only then that some discover they have fertility challenges and seek out IVF and other treatments, yet success rates at advanced ages are likewise low, creating a perfect storm.”
The report showed that among people aged 40 to 44 years old, births from IVF rose to nearly 3,500 in 2023, up from 657 in 2000. Treatments have climbed by 83 per cent for single patients since 2019 and by 45 per cent for female same-sex couples.
The HFEA collects and verifies data on all treatments that take place in UK licensed clinics. Some of the latest data is preliminary. With NHS-funded treatment often not available, many people going private face treatment costs ranging from £5,000 to £13,000 per cycle.
The proportion of NHS-funded IVF treatments across the UK fell from 35 per cent in 2019 to 27 per cent in 2023, due to waiting times and changes in funding criteria.
The report found that of the 80 per cent of fertility patients who spoke to a GP before starting treatment, most waited up to a year to begin treatment — 16 per cent waited more than two years.
It also warned of the difficulties accessing NHS treatment in some areas due to fragmented local funding criteria. The proportion of NHS-funded IVF treatments varied from 54 per cent in Scotland to only 18 per cent in the East Midlands and the South East of England and 20 per cent in London.
The country’s “postcode lottery for fertility treatment continues”, said Sarah Norcross, director of the Progress Educational Trust, a fertility charity.
Additional reporting by Laura Hughes