5,000 women give birth in Beijing by IVF

Infertile couples in Beijing using in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment to have a child is on the rise with about 5,000 babies born each year in the capital, the municipal health bureau announced on Sunday.

With the rise in the use of treatment and concerns about unlicensed clinics, the health authority is establishing a quality control center to supervise the assisted reproduction technique.

The move comes as the city celebrates the 25th birthday of the country's first tube baby - Zheng Mengzhu.

Zheng, 25, now works in the gynecology center of the Peking University Third Hospital, where she was born to her then 39-year-old woman in 1988.

According to the hospital, 370,000 couples visited the gynecology center last year with 80 percent of those who had IVF treatment delivering a baby.

Getting married later in life and the increased pressure of work and environmental conditions are causing more infertile couples. Experts have called for more legal support to tackle unlicensed clinics and surrogate births.