Disturbing demographic data. It hasn’t been this bad since 1945

In 2023, 272,000 children were born in Poland, down 33,000 from the previous year. This is the lowest result since the end of World War II. The country’s fertility rate remains well below the value necessary to ensure generation replacement, and natural increase has been negative for many years. To improve these statistics, in June this year the government launched a program to reimburse in vitro procedures, which, as international experience shows, may significantly increase the number of births.

Michał Modro, a legal advisor specializing in health care, emphasizes that in addition to the reimbursement of in vitro procedures, educating society is also crucial. In Poland, there is still stigmatization of couples who decide on this method and children conceived this way. The reimbursement program, operating since June 1, 2023, was introduced in dozens of medical centers as a result of a competition organized by the Ministry of Health. For many parents, this is a chance to fulfill the dream of having children.

The government’s IVF refund program, which will last until the end of 2028, is financed from the state budget in the amount of PLN 2.5 billion, which gives PLN 500 million annually. Couples struggling with infertility can benefit from full refunds of procedures, including qualification, tests and all stages of assisted reproduction. The program also covers people with oncological diseases, allowing them to secure their fertility in the future by freezing eggs and sperm. It is worth noting that the Polish program is exceptionally generous compared to other European countries, offering patients more cycles and financing oocyte donation.

Modro emphasizes that such programs have a documented impact on the increase in fertility, and their effects should be visible after a few months of implementation. However, in order to effectively improve the demographic situation, long-term actions are needed. Data from the Central Statistical Office show that the number of births in Poland is decreasing at an alarming rate, and the demographic situation of the country is the worst since the post-war period. In the first five months of 2024, the number of births amounted to 107.5 thousand, which is a decrease compared to the same period of the previous year.

In the face of an ageing society, it is necessary to implement programs that will encourage having children. The lack of such actions may lead to a situation in which the number of seniors supported by professionally active people will increase, which in turn may affect the stability of social and economic systems. Stigmatization of couples deciding on in vitro and children born through this method remains a problem in Poland. In many communities, such children are discriminated against, which can be compared to other forms of hate speech, such as discrimination based on sexual orientation or origin.

Therefore, in addition to the reimbursement itself, it is important to conduct broad-based education of the public. Those involved in healthcare should strive to inform the public as widely as possible about the available options. Information about the program is available on official ministry websites, but its accessibility to the average citizen may be limited.

The decision to disclose the fact of undergoing the in vitro procedure should belong solely to the parents. Unfortunately, it happens that this information is leaked or medical records are not properly protected, which leads to a violation of the privacy of patients. An example is a situation in which medical records clearly indicated information about the conception of a child by the in vitro method, which could have led to unauthorized access to this data. In such cases, it is necessary to improve procedures to protect the privacy of parents and children.