Singapore: Revealing that one out of 27 babies born in Japan in 2012 were through test-tube fertilization, Japan's Association of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists spoke to the media elaborately about the trend.

The association announced that the number of in vitro fertilization (IVF) cases and infants born through IVF in Japan hit record levels in 2012. They said that there were 330,000 IVF cases and 37,953 infants born through IVF in Japan in 2012, which meant one out of 27 infants born in the year was through IVF, while the proportion was one out of 74 a decade ago.

They claimed that with the increase of late marriage in Japan, the number of infants born are decreasing, moreover, infertility are distressing more older women.

Further, they added that since 2004 when the Japanese government began to subsidize IVF treatment, couples receiving the treatment have been increasing.

A report quoted that in 1983, Tohoku University in Japan for the first time began IVF treatment and produced the country's first successful test-tube baby, baby conceived through IVF. Since then, there have been 341,750 test-tube babies in Japan.