Worldwide Number of living multiples 125 million
In the U.S.(2000 Data)
*Number of multiples born during the year 126,241
Number of twins born 118,916
Number of triplets born 6,742
Number of quadruplets born 506
Number of quintuplets and higher order multiples born 77
(These numbers refer to individual babies, not sets.)
Total number of U.S. births 4,058,814
Percentage of all births that are twins 2.9%
Birth rate for twins1 per 35
Birth rate for triplets, quads, quints, etc.1 per 550
*Source: CDC, Monthly Vital Statistics Report (Final Report, 2000)
18% to 22% of twins are left-handed compared with under 10% for non-twins.
The incidence of fraternal twins varies by race:
Of African descent: 1 birth per 70
Of Caucasian descent: 1 birth per 88
Of Japanese descent: 1 birth per 150
Of Chinese descent: 1 birth per 300
William Shakespeare was the father of boy/girl twins Hamnet and Judith. He also wrote about twins in The Comedy of Errors and The Twelfth Night.
The term "twins" derives from the ancient German word twin or twine meaning "two together."
Twinning does run in families, but supposedly only fraternal twins and not identical twins. Yet there are many, many families with identical twins in each generation, and sometimes even several sets of identical twin children, so this ostensible scientific "fact" doesn't seem to be supported by the evidence. There is little evidence to support the popular notion that twins "skip" a generation.
If the mother is herself a fraternal twin, the chances of having twins increases about five-fold.
The scientific study of twins is known as "gemellology."
Twins have been known to develop their own "language" that only they understand. This process is known as "cryptophasia
