The human birth rate has dropped drastically from 4.979 births per woman in 1960 to 1.432 per woman in 2017, says the World Bank. A number of factors, including women as well as men’s individual health and lifestyle choices, are responsible for this. For instance, women who smoke carry 50% lesser chances of conceiving. Then, there are numerous fertility-related disorders and sexually transmitted diseases (STD), which also play a part. Therefore, to up their chances of having children, people are rapidly going for in vitro fertilization (IVF), which involves fertilizing the egg outside the human body and then transplanting the embryos in the uterus.

These advancements include the usage of imaging systems and associated software to track the development of embryos on the screen, while still inside the incubator. This allows doctors to select the healthy eggs for transplantation, to give people the highest chances of conceiving a child. Another technological development is pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which enables the detection of any genetic disorder the embryo has, for timely action, to minimize the chances of the begotten child inheriting it. 

All these devices and consumables are utilized in frozen-embryo, fresh-embryo, and donor-egg IVF procedures. Of these, the fresh-embryo approach has been the most sought-after, as people are intentionally delaying pregnancy. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of women becoming pregnant for the first time between 35 and 39 years of age is increasing among all ethnic groups. In eight federal districts and states in the U.S., this rate grew by 40% in the last few years.

Presently, Europeans account for the highest usage of IVF, on account of the high awareness about personal and maternal health, rapid adoption of technologically enhanced products, and high reimbursement ratios for such procedures. Additionally, PGD and three-parent IVF techniques are legally permitted in the continent, which further leads to the high consumption of associated consumables and devices. In the coming years, Asia-Pacific (APAC) is predicted to be the fastest growing IVF devices and consumables market, as a result of low fertility rates and increasing awareness on the issue. 

Another reason for the robust rise in the demand for IVF devices and consumables in APAC is the growth of fertility tourism. Just like medical tourism, fertility tourism involves people from developed countries coming to developing nations to get the job done. The primary reason behind this is the high cost of artificial insemination procedures in developed countries. For instance, one IVF cycle costs $10,000–$15,000 in North America, whereas in Thailand, is costs merely $6,059, which is why people prefer developing countries to developed ones.

Hence, with some people not able to conceive naturally and others deliberately delaying the process, the requirement for the consumables and devices used in artificial insemination procedures will continue increasing.