Affiliations: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Children's and
Women's Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Fertility
Clinic, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St. Olav's Hospital,
Trondheim University Hospital, Norway
Note: [] Professor Arne Sunde, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,
St. Olav's Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, N-7006 Trondheim, Norway.
Tel.: +47 72 57 47 33; Fax: +47 72 57 47 06; E-mail: arne.sunde@ntnu.no
Abstract: More than 70 000 children are born annually in Europe as a result of
assisted reproduction (ART). Concerning individual European countries, there is
a large variation in the uptake if ART. In Denmark and Finland the number of
ART treatment cycles is well above 1500 cycles per million inhabitants, while
countries like Portugal, Spain, Ireland and the UK have only one third to one
fourth as many ART cycles annually. Denmark is the country with the highest
uptake of ART in Europe and currently about 6% of all children born in has been
conceived by ART. If the rest of the European countries managed to increase
their uptake of ART to the same level as Denmark, nearly 400 000 children would
be born annually as a result of ART. The total fertility rate in all European countries has fallen below
replacement levels and the old age dependency ratio will in many countries
increase to a level which is not economically sustainable. It is obvious that
Europeans need to address the demographic issue. Health economic studies
indicate that increased spending on ART might be a very cost effective measure
to increase the total fertility rate of a population.
