The Contribution of Medically Assisted Reproduction to Total, Age- and Parity-Specific Fertility

The Contribution of Medically Assisted Reproduction to Total, Age- and Parity-Specific Fertility in Italy Agnese Vitali, University of Trento Abstract: Countries characterized by low and late fertility offer a unique test ground for studying the contribution of MAR to fertility rates. This study estimates the contribution of Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR) to fertility in Italy – the country with the latest maternal age at first birth and the highest share of births to mothers aged 40+ in Europe. Relying on a unique combination of administrative data sources –the Certificate of Delivery Care Registry dataset, the Register of Live Births to the Resident Population, and the resident population by age and sex– we calculate the age-specific fertility rates (total and by parity) for births conceived via MAR and those conceived naturally. These rates are then utilized to assess the contribution of MAR to total, age- and parity-specific fertility, as well as to the mean maternal age at childbearing. This study is the first estimation of its kind for Italy