Statistics

When we are first introduced to the idea of twins, the thoughts on numbers do cross our minds. The questions that come up are how many? where?. In this section we have put in as many numbers as we could get across various geographies. We have still not come across any source which will give these numbers for Indian sub-continent. Appreciate your help in getting the same.

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World Wide

The National Center for Health Statistics reported that the US birth rate for multiples rose 28% between 1990 to1998 to 29 births per 1000. The rate rose still more to 32 births per 1000 in 2004. The triplet rate are 125 million people in the world who are multiples (twins, triplets and higher-order multiples) and higher-order multiples rate more than doubled in 1999 for several reasons; 1) women waiting longer to have babies; 2) increased use of fertility drugs; and 3) in vitro fertilization. The birth rate for triplets or more declined slightly between 2001 and 2004.

 

·    USA

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Africa

The twin record is paradoxically held by Africa, where the birth rate is very high (37/1,000 inhabitants against 10/1,000 in Europe). While Africa only holds 13% of the world population, 40% of twins are born there (20 twin births per 1,000 births compared to 12 in Europe). For the moment, there is no explanation for this phenomenon.

It's a curious, but little-known fact that the rate of twin births in West Africa is about four times higher than in the rest of the world. The centre of this twin zone is Igbo-Ora, a sleepy southwest town in Nigeria. (*Source BBC)

 

UK:

The number of twins being born in the UK continues to rise, with a total of 10,533 sets being born in 2005, the latest year for which statistics are available.

 

France:

In 1998, 14.7 births per 1,000 were of twins, against 8.9 per 1,000 in 1972. Fertility treatments have been responsible for two-thirds of the increased proportion of twins over the last thirty years, with the remaining third related to the increasingly advanced age at which women become pregnant.