Barcelona: a hub for international fertility treatment
70% of patients in Fertilab Barcelona are foreign, with Italian and French among top nationalities
Social and demographic changes over the last few years have led to a large number of women opting to freeze their eggs and preserve their fertility.
This method involves storing the eggs at very low temperatures to preserve the woman's ovarian reserve. However, this practice is not legal in all of Europe, something that has prompted many women to come to Barcelona where a range of clinics are operating.
In 2012, there were 152 centers specializing in assisted reproduction in Spain, and this number has increased to 320 by 2021, according to Statista data.
The number of patients using the Fertilab Barcelona clinic's services has increased by 200% in the last two years.
Although this technique was first used for women who wished to delay their motherhood due to oncological treatment or ovarian surgeries that prevented them from being mothers at the time, the reality is that today it is used also for other reasons.
The age of motherhood has on average moved later and many decide to go to clinics to vitrify their eggs and get pregnant past 35, when the difficulties to conceive begin to increase.
Dr. Federica Moffa, gynecologist and medical director of the Fertilab Barcelona fertility clinic, says that "70% of the patients who come to the clinic are from outside Spain," with most representation from Italian or French patients.
According to the latest data from the Spanish Fertility Society (SEF) and the ministry of health, of the 127,420 in vitro-fertilization cycles that were carried out in 2020 in Spain, 12,171 were of patients who came from abroad.
Dr. Moffa, says that Barcelona has become especially popular for people coming from abroad because of the legislation opening up the possibility, the personalization of treatment, the reputation for medical excellence, and the fact that the city is an international meeting point already.