IVF Births Hit Record High

Around 30 years after America's first "test tube baby" was born, enough IVF babies were born in the US in 2012 to fill a medium-sized town, according to a new report from the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology. The organization says its 379 member clinics performed a total of 165,172 procedures in 2012, resulting in the birth of 61,740 babies—an all-time high, and 1.5% of total births, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The rising percentage of IVF births reflects the rising average age at which women give birth, Reuters notes. The clinics reported that they were making progress in reducing multiple births by persuading couples to transfer fewer embryos per cycle. Among women under 35, a single embryo was transferred around 15% of the time, and twins were the result of around 30% of treatments. Triplets or higher multiples were the result around 1% of the time. (More in vitro fertilization stories.)