Reproduction Fewer twins after artificial insemination
Multiple births after artificial insemination have fallen sharply in the last twenty years. The figures shrank from 17.4 percent in 2002 to 2.8 percent in 2023, as the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) announced on Thursday.
10.04.2025, 12:15
10.04.2025, 12:16
SDA
This decline can largely be explained by the entry into force of the revision of the Reproductive Medicine Act in 2017. It allows a higher number of embryos (maximum twelve) to be stored, as Tonia Rihs from the FSO's Reproduction Statistics Section explained to the Keystone-SDA news agency.
In this way, medical practice can better determine which embryos can be used for artificial insemination (in vitro fertilization, or IVF for short). She added that transfers of a single embryo had also increased significantly.
In 2017, two embryos were used in 4085 transfers. Only one embryo was transferred in 3789 cases. In 2023, the majority of transfers involved only one embryo (7341). Two embryos were transferred only 811 times.
More live births after IVF
In 2023, 6513 couples underwent treatment with the IVF method. The number thus fell by 1.5 percent compared to the previous year. As a result, 2511 children were born alive. However, this represents an increase of 5.9% compared to 2022. These 2511 children account for 3% of all births in Switzerland. 67 of these children were born after a sperm donation.
Nevertheless, only around 30 percent of all embryo transfers resulted in a birth. But that is also an increase. In 2017, this figure was 23%, in 2022 it was 27.6%.
