'The Land of Twins' Just east of Benin, the westernmost regions of Nigeria have some of the highest twin rates in the world. Igbo-Ora, one such community, even has a sign proclaiming that it's "The Land of Twins," according to reports by AFP and the BBC.
High parity – Having one or more previous pregnancies, especially a multiple pregnancy, increases the chances of having multiples. Race – African-American women are more likely to have twins than any other race. Asian and Native Americans have the lowest twinning rates.
In Australia, twins happen in 1 in every 80 births. This means that 1 in 40 Australians is a twin.
' The study found big increases in twinning rates in many European countries in North America and Asia. But 80% of all twin deliveries are now in Africa and Asia, with Africa having the highest twinning rates of all.
Because more twins are born in Igbo-Ora than anywhere else in the world, walking through the town might make you feel like you are seeing double. Almost every house has at least one set of twins. The production and birth of two children from the same pregnancy is still relatively uncommon.
Race – African women have the highest incidence of twins, while Asian women have the lowest. Assisted reproductive techniques – many procedures rely on stimulating the ovaries with fertility drugs to produce eggs and, often, several eggs are released per ovulation.
Vietnam was the country with the fewest twins (6.2 per 1,000 births) and Benin was the country with the most (27.9 per 1,000). Over time, some of these developing countries saw increases in twins, but some saw decreases and some stayed the same, with any changes tending to be small.
Asian Americans and Native Americans have the lowest rates for twins. White people assigned female at birth have the highest rate of higher-order multiple births (triplets or more). This is especially true for those older than 35.
The twinning rate in Asia and Latin America, on the other hand, is very low: often less than 8 per 1000 births and almost always less than 10 per 1000 births.
In Nigeria's southwestern city of Igbo-Ora, there is an unusually abundant number of twins - so much so that it is the west African nation's self-proclaimed "twin capital". "Nearly every family here has twins or other multiple births," says local chief Jimoh Titiloye.
Australians Anna and Lucy DeCinque call themselves the “most identical twins in the world”, and work to live up to their self-proclaimed title. They're engaged to the same man, have the same bathroom schedule, and work the same job – one for a salary the other as a volunteer, for legal reasons.
The famous Perth-born twins shower together, use the bathroom at the same time, eat the same amount of food, and share the same fiancé... and bed. So, it's hardly a surprise that Anna and Lucy DeCinque also want to share their next chapter of motherhood together.
In 2021, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (latest report as of October 2021) there were 4,248 multiple births representing 1.5% of all births (309,996) in Australia. This comprised 4,185 pairs of twins and 63 sets of triplets and higher order multiples.
Such twins, known scientifically as 'MoMo', an abbreviation for monoamniotic-monochorionic, are some of the rarest types of twins, making up less than one percent of all births in the United States, noted the statement. It also stressed that such MoMo twin pregnancies have a high risk of fetal complications.
Monoamniotic-monochorionic Twins
These types of twins share a chorion, placenta, and an amniotic sac. This is the rarest type of twin, and it means a riskier pregnancy as the babies can get tangled in their own umbilical cords.
Researchers analysed records from more than 100 countries and found a substantial rise in twin birthrates since the 1980s, with one in 42 people now born a twin, equivalent to 1.6 million children a year. According to the study, the global twin birthrate has risen by one-third, on average, over the past 40 years.
Researchers have long noticed that the Yoruba tribe — whose members live in Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and elsewhere — is a world leader in twins.
The rate keeps rising for (naturally) two big reasons. More twins are being born now than ever before. Parents are increasingly using in-vitro fertilization and deciding to have children later in life. The twin rate could continue to go up as more nations push these factors higher.
In Japan, the probability of a spontaneous pregnancy resulting in dichorionic diamniotic twins (DD twins) is 0.2%–0.3%, and the probability of monochorionic diamniotic twins (MD twins) is 0.4% [4].
Factors that increase the chance of twins include: consuming high amounts of dairy foods, being over the age of 30, and conceiving while breastfeeding. Many fertility drugs including Clomid, Gonal-F, and Follistim also increase the odds of a twin pregnancy.
Octuplets are a set of eight offspring born at one birth. An individual that is part of such a set is called an octuplet.
A Russian woman named Valentina Vassilyeva and her husband Feodor Vassilyev are alleged to hold the record for the most children a couple has produced. She gave birth to a total of 69 children – sixteen pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets – between 1725 and 1765, a total of 27 births.
South Korea has had the lowest fertility rate in the world since 2013. The fertility rate is the average number of children born to a woman in her reproductive years. The drop in fertility rates has left countries facing a future of aging populations and shrinking workforces.
Birth of twins has significantly increased over the past years, as you can see on the graph below. As of 2003, there are on average around 16 sets of twins born per 1,000 births in the United States. It is estimated that 1 in 250 natural pregnancies will naturally result in twins.