IN 2016, 71,000 babies were born in America after in vitro fertilisation (IVF), triple the number two decades earlier and 1.8% of all births. The share of births that are by IVF varies around the world, rising as high as 4% in Denmark, Israel and Spain. One consistent trend, however, is growth. Fertility technology is steadily improving and women are choosing to delay child-bearing, meaning more couples need medical help to conceive.
For many would-be parents the main impediment to conception is now not science but finance. Data for 2017 gathered by ICMART, an international non-profit organisation, show vast variation in prices. A single IVF attempt costs around $ 3,000 in Japan, $ 4,000 in Cameroon and up to $ 10,000 in Europe. In America it costs more. The countries with the highest IVF birth rates are those where taxpayers pay for treatment. (There are a few exceptions, such as Croatia, where medical tourism pushes the IVF birth rate up.)…
