Assisted Fertility Treatments
Data description
Statistical presentation
Statistics on assisted fertility treatments at the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) contain data on IVF and IUI treatments preformed in Finland. The statistics include preliminary data on treatments in the previous year and final data on the number of treatments and their outcomes in the year preceding that.
Data are collected once a year from all fertility clinics operating in Finland. Providing THL the statistical data is mandatory based on the Act on Assisted Fertility Treatments (1237/2006), on the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health Decree on Assisted Fertility Treatments (811/2009) and on the Act on the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (668/2008).
Data on IVF, ICSI and FET treatments have been collected since 1992. Since then, the data collection has been extended several times. The data reported in this statistical report contain the final data for 2023 and the preliminary data for 2024.
The statistic is aimed at health care practitioners, authorities, planners and researchers working with reproductive health.
Relevance
The statistics on fertility treatments contain data for the research, development, and organization of services related to reproductive health. Supplementary data is available from e.g. THL’s the Care Register for Health Care and Kela's (Social Insurance Institution of Finland) Prescription Centre. The data content of the statistics has been developed together with the fertility clinics and mainly corre-sponds to the EU-wide data collection of EHSRE (European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology).
Data content of the statistics
The statistics include all fertility treatments in Finland which were performed in fertility clinics that belongs to the activities of tissue establishments (Act of the Medical Use of Human Organs and Tissues 101/2001) and which have a permission for their activities from Valvira (National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health).
The statistics contain information on e.g. the type of the fertility treatment, use of own or donor gametes, treatments outcomes and the number of births per type of assisted fertility treatment. In addition to this the statistics include information on the number of clinics, criteria for treatments and the share of the public sector of the treatments preformed. The data are given at the national level, with no clinic-specific data published.
Data on IVF, ICSI and FET treatments have been collected since 1992. Data has been collected separately on oocyte donations (since 1996), sperm and embryo donations and surrogacy (since 2001), as well as on insemination treatments (since 2006). Data on embryo diagnostics, oocyte freezing and oocyte thawing have been collected since 2017.
The statistics include information on treatments given two statistical years earlier (2023) and with preliminary data on the previous year’s treatments (2024). The lag in the data collection is due to the fact that data cannot be collected until the outcomes of all treatments are known: the last children resulting from treatments performed in 2024 are born as late as the autumn of the year following the treatment (2025).
Preliminary data are collected only on the total number of started treatment cycles (separately for non-donor gametes and donor gametes) as well as on the number of single-embryo transfers of all treatments.
The terms and definitions used are presented in the text part of the statistical report.
Statistical processing
Source data
The statistics are based on THL’s annual data collection on assisted fertility treatments. Data are collected from all fertility clinics in Finland, both from the public and private sector.
The statistical data contains all assisted fertility treatments in Finland. Treatments performed abroad to Finnish nationals are not included in the statistics.
Only aggregate-level data are collected and no personal data of the persons receiving the treatment are not collected. The clinic performing the embryo transfer or insemination is responsible for reporting. If hormone therapy associated with assisted fertility treatment is initiated at one clinic, while the transfer is performed on another clinic, the reporting responsibility lies with the clinic performing the transfer.
The data collection concerns treatments performed each year but children born from those treatments might have been born the following year. The statistics on children are presented according to the treatment year, not the year of the birth. The number of children born as a result of fertility treatments is presented also as a share of all children born in Finland. The relative numbers are based on the estimation on children conceived each year according to the Medical Birth Register at THL regardless, if they have been born the same or the next year. Children born to foreign citizens abroad are also included in the statistics if the treatment was performed in Finland. However, the share of these children of all children born has been estimated to be relatively low.
The number of treatments is also presented in relation to the number of all women in fertile age (between 15 and 49 years of age). The number of all women in fertile age is based on the population statistics of Statistic Finland. The average population is used for population ratios.
Based on Valvira’s Luoteri register, also information on the number of donors is presented in the statistics. Valvira is responsible for the accuracy of these numbers. A new donor is registered in the Luoteri register only once. If a donor donates gametes several times in the same clinic, they are included in the figures only once.
Data collection
Data are collected to THL by using an electronic form. The deadline for the data collection was 7.2.2025. Data in the 2023–2024 statistical report are based on data submitted to THL by 27th March 2025.
Anonymous case reports are collected on congenital anomalies and serious diseases of the mother or the newborn. These are not reported in this statistical report.
Data validation
Data are validated at THL before publication and possible unclear information are checked from the fertility clinics. In the 2023–2024 data, all clinics corrected the inaccuracies, and the corrections are included in the statistics.
Data compilation
Data are collected from the fertility clinics using an electronic form and uploaded to a data base at THL.
THL has developed reports for internal use to compare the data sent by the clinics and to highlight possible inaccuracies. The clinics have the possibility to correct the data before publication.
Data revision
Data from previous statistical years is updated retroactively, if necessary, in connection with the next statistical publication. However, corrections to the data after publication are very rare and the numbers reported seldomly change retrospectively.
Preliminary data on the treatments performed the year preceding the publication year are revised in the next statistical publication.
The preliminary statistics on the previous year’s treatments have been found to be very close to the final figures. The total number of assisted fertility treatments was 0.5 per cent more in the final 2023 statistics than in the preliminary statistics reported in 2024.
Any inaccuracies identified in the statistics are corrected annually. This also applies to data from earlier years.
Quality assessment of the statistics
Accuracy and reliability
The data are based on figures reported by the clinics providing treatments. The preliminary statistics on the previous year’s treatments have been found to be very close to the final figures.
Timeliness and punctuality
The statistics on assisted fertility treatments are published annually by THL. The statistical report is published in May.
The statistics are concerned with treatments given two statistical years earlier (2023) and with preliminary data on the previous year’s treatments (2024). The lag in the data collection is due to the fact that data cannot be collected until the outcomes of all treatments are known: the last children resulting from treatments performed in 2024 are born as late as the autumn of the year following the treatment (2025).
Coherence and comparability
The statistical data include comprehensive information on fertility treatments performed in Finland each year. The preliminary statistics on the previous year’s treatments have been found to be very close to the final figures.
The Finnish statistics on assisted fertility treatments begin from the statistical year 1992. In 1992–1993, the data were collected by the IVF clinic at Helsinki University Hospital. Since 1994, the data collection has been THL’s (previously STAKES) responsibility. With the introduction of new methods of treatment, the data collection has been extended accordingly. More detailed information on factors affecting the interpretation of the statistical data is given separately for each table. The concepts and definitions related to assisted fertility treatments have not changed.
The follow-up data on six pregnancies could not be obtained from one of the clinics and the data for one clinic are missing from the statistics for 2001–2002.
The data collection was revised in 2019 (data for 2017 and preliminary data 2018). The data content was expanded and is subsequently not totally compatible with earlier statistics. The data content includes new treatments methods from 2017 onwards embryo diagnostics, oocyte freezing and oocyte thawing). Even though the definitions of IVF, ICSI and FET treatments did not change in 2019, it is possible that some fertility clinics have included the methods now added as separate methods, in the number of IVF, ICSI or FET treatments in earlier years.
It seems that there are slight inaccuracies in the data for 2017 and the reported number of treatments might be slightly smaller than in reality. The problems with the data quality have been resolved in the 2018 data, but the possible quality issues for 2017 data have to be taken into account in the time series even in the future.
In 2020, the number of assisted fertility treatments was in particularly affected by the corona epidemic: the majority of clinics in Finland stopped providing treatments in March 2020. As a rule, the treatments were continued later in the spring or summer of 2020.
The Act on Assisted Fertility Treatments (1237/2006), the Decree on Assisted Fertility Treatments (811/2009) and Act of the Medical Use of Human Organs and Tissues (101/2001) regulate the use of gametes and embryos. According to the Act on Assisted Fertility Treatments, a person whose birth has resulted from assisted fertility treatments where donated gametes have been used, has a right to know the identity of the donor when the child turns 18 years and anonymous donation is not allowed. In accordance with the legislation, no surrogacy treatments have been performed since 2007.
Assisted fertility treatments given in the public sector are also guided by e.g. Uniform principles of non-urgent care published by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (from 2019, update underway in May 2024).
The reimbursements of assisted fertility treatments by Kela (Social Insurance Institution of Finland) especially affects treatments in the private sector (reimbursements of procedures ended on 31 December 2022). The current government of prime minister Orpo has decided to return the reimbursement of assisted fertility treatments and to increase the compensation level from 1.1.2025 onwards.
Institutional mandate
The production of the statistics on fertility treatments is based on the Act on Assisted Fertility Treatments (1237/2006), the Decree on Assisted Fertility Treatments (811/2009) and the Act on the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (688/2008). One of the official tasks of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare is to produce statistical data on the health and welfare of the population, the factors affecting them, and the use and functioning of healthcare and social welfare services to support decision-making, development and research. THL’s statistical production practices are guided by the instructions, recommendations and regulations of Eurostat and the Official Statistics of Finland as well as the principles of statistical ethics.
The data collection was started on the initiative of the clinics providing assisted fertility treatments, and the data disclosure was voluntary until 2005. In accordance with the Decree issued under section 26 of the Act on Assisted Fertility Treatments (1237/2006), which entered into force on 1 September 2007, clinics giving assisted fertility treatments have a statutory duty to provide THL with statistical data. The clinics must provide THL with information about their assisted fertility treatment activities for the purposes of monitoring and statistics.
Data sharing and publishing
THL publishes the data at the time indicated in advance in the sta-tistics publication calendar. The data is made public to all users at the same time. The release of the statistics report on the THL web-site is also accompanied by database report on fertility treatment.
The European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) are also provided with more detailed, nationwide statistical data.
Confidentiality
As an authority, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare has the obligation to produce compiled data on the health and well-being concerned with the entire country. The data used to draw up THL’s statistics is primarily confidential, and personal data may not be published. The protection of processed data is based on the Act on the National Institute for Health and Welfare (688/2008), the Statis-tics Act (280/2004), the Act on the Openness of Government Activi-ties (621/1999), the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and the Data Protection Act (1050/2018) as well as other regulation guiding the activities of the Institute.
THL’s datasets are secured at all stages of processing. Data and information systems can only be accessed by persons who have a permit to access certain data for clearly defined purposes. Others do not have the ability to view, process, change or delete data. Writ-ten instructions have been drawn up to ensure the data protection of completed statistics. All THL personnel are bound by a confiden-tiality obligation.
Special issues concerning the 2023–2024 statistics
The statistics concern treatments performed in 2023 and preliminary numbers of treatments in 2024. The lag in the data collection is due to the fact that data cannot be collected until the results of all treatments are known: the last infants resulting from treatments performed in 2024 are born as late as the autumn of 2025.
All clinics giving assisted fertility treatments that operated in Finland in 2023–2024 are included in the statistics.
