TECHNOLOGY QUARTERLY (JULY 22ND 2023) – The most personal technology. Demand for, and expectations of, in vitro fertilisation are growing. The technology is struggling to keep up, write Catherine Brahic and Sacha Nauta.

In vitro fertilisation is struggling to keep up with demand

Developing the technology to change that is proving a difficult task

With the possible exception of Adam and Eve, all human beings born before 1978 were conceived inside a woman’s body. Today the world contains at least 12m people who started off in laboratory glassware. On average, four more are born every three minutes. That is a worldwide rate of roughly one newborn in 175.

IVF remains largely a numbers game

And plenty of clinics are taking advantage: the second of seven articles on the technology of fertility

Most healthy young couples seeking to get pregnant will try for a few months before they are successful. Those who are not will try for months more, or years, before concluding they need help and stepping into the waiting room of an ivf clinic. They often arrive in a state of acute emotional vulnerability, clutching at the hope that doctors will help.