Twins peaked? There are more twins being born than ever before

Virgin Radio

12 Mar 2021, 16:46

Move over Schwarzenegger and DeVito. Having twins is at its highest and there are more double deliveries than ever before in the world. A study into human reproduction over 30 years in the Oxford Academic has shown that it's at a peak with around 1.6 million twins born each year worldwide (meaning one in every 42 children are born a twin).

The reason for the twin peak is due to people starting families later in life and the help of IVF which has seen twins rise by a third since the 1980s.

Women choosing to start families later in life, increased use of contraception and lower fertility overall also play a role, the review says.

Singleton pregnancies are much safer, Prof Monden said: "This is important as twin deliveries are associated with higher death rates among babies and children, and more complications for mothers and children during pregnancy - during and after delivery."

Prof Christiaan Monden explained: "The twinning rate in Africa is so high because of the high number of dizygotic twins - twins born from two separate eggs - born there.

"This is most likely to be due to genetic differences between the African population and other populations."

Prof Jeroen Smits from the study said: "While twinning rates in many rich Western countries are now getting close to those in sub-Saharan Africa, there is a huge difference in the survival chances."

According to the findings, the number of twins born in the future are affected by declining fertility, older mothers and IVF.