There’s been a massive increase in the global twinning rate, with numbers up by a third since the 1980s.
In only three decades, the number of twins has shot up a third due to the growth in medically assisted reproduction, which increases the chance of multiple births.
Between 1980 and 2015, the number of twin deliveries per 1000 increased from 9.1 to 12 across the globe.
That means that one in every 42 children born on earth is a twin.
The latest statistics were reported in Human Reproduction in March, with data from 165 countries analysed by researchers at Oxford, the French Museum of Natural History and Global Data Lab at Radboud University in the Netherlands.
Interestingly, the rate of twinning differs across the globe, with the highest rates in Africa.
Between 1980–1985 and 2010–2015, the rates of twinning more than doubled in many countries in Europe, North America and east Asia.
“For 74 of 112 countries, we observed an increase of more than 10% whereas a decrease of more than 10% was found in only seven countries,” the researchers reported.
“For most countries, the current proportion of twin deliveries has never been higher since records began.”
Feeling sad you don’t have a twin? Email story tips to felicity@medicalrepublic.com.au to fill the hole in your heart.
