Approximately 40,000 children have been born in Moldova this year. The figure is slightly lower than in 2011. The number of children born to underage girls and to women older than 35 has increased. Asked by Info-Prim Neo, the director of the Mother and Child Center Stefan Gitcan said that the girls who become mothers until the age of 18 are mainly from rural areas. In most of the cases, they have their parents working abroad or are orphans. 17% of all the women who gave birth are older than 35. This percentage is rising and this is a reason for concern, stated Stefan Gitcan. The in vitro fertilization has become more popular. As a result, the number of triplets has increased. More than 15 women gave birth to triplets in Moldova in 2012. A woman became the mother of quadruplets. About 200 women of the 40,000 who give birth annually remain pregnant by in vitro fertilization. “Even if the number of births has increased this year, this is due to the fact that the women who now give birth were born mainly in 1987-1989, when the birth rate was over 100,000 children a year. In 5-10 years, this figure is expected to fall to about 30,000,” said Stefan Gatcan. He also said that the child mortality decreased to 9.5 promiles among newborns. Maternal mortality is stable and represents 25 cases per 100,000 newborns.