Context: Over the past five years, Belarus has spent approximately $10 million on its state-run IVF program. A total of 7,404 in vitro fertilization cycles were performed during this time. Since 2026, the program has expanded. Now, the state pays for two attempts instead of one, and unmarried women can also take part in the program.
On April 16, 2026, Międzynarodowe Radio Białoruś*, which broadcasts to a Polish audience, discussed the demographic situation in Poland and Belarus. During the discussion, the claim was made that, unlike in Belarus, Poles supposedly do not have comprehensive state support for IVF.
“In Poland, it costs between 10 and 20 thousand zlotys for those who have to pay for it. Here [in Belarus — ed. note], it is part of a free, ubiquitous service <...>,” said host Davide Carbonaro.
“I haven’t heard of any programs like that in Poland. This is just populism ahead of the upcoming election, not a strategy. In Belarus, it is a strategy — the development and implementation of a strategy to improve demographics,” continued political scientist Aliaksei Dzermant.
This is not true. Poland also has a state-funded IVF program. By some parameters, it is even more extensive than the Belarusian one.
First of all, the Polish program has a higher age limit for beneficiaries: for women, 42–45 years; for men, 55 years. In Belarus, patients must cover the costs of the procedure after the age of 40. In Belarus, an exception is made only for women who have given birth with the help of IVF and who still have a high reproductive potential. For them, the age limit is 49 years.
The Polish program differs in its beneficiary range. Foreigners can take advantage of it as well, unlike in Belarus, where only citizens can benefit from state support.
Poland also has a broader approach to the scope of IVF. There, the program is used for more than just infertility treatment. For example, it is used to preserve fertility in cancer patients before treatment.
Public funding for IVF was first introduced in Poland in 2013 for a three-year period, and then reinstated in 2024. In other words, this is not a one-off pre-election initiative, but a mechanism that had existed earlier and was later reintroduced.
The difference is also noticeable in the results. During the five years of the state program, approximately 2,500 children were born in Belarus. In Poland, nearly 35,000 children were born thanks to the state program.
Thus, in the radio broadcast for the Polish audience, the Belarusian model was presented as unique and strategic, whereas the Polish model was described as populist and nearly nonexistent. In fact, Poland has a state-funded IVF program, and in terms of age criteria, accessibility, and scale, it is more extensive than Belarus’s.
Międzynarodowe Radio Białoruś (translated from Polish as “International Radio Belarus”) is a Belarusian state international radio broadcasting and media platform, a structural division of the Belteleradiocompany.
