Twin pregnancies, fraternal or identical, naturally occur in 32 out of 1000 pregnancies in the United States.
More Info: You will increase your chances of begetting twins if you are thirty-five and older, if you already have children or a set of twins, and if you are taller and heavier than the average woman. Women in Scandinavian counties have the largest rate of twins for Caucasians. Women that are African or of African descent have the highest rate of twins. Fertility drugs can raise the possibility of twins or stopping birth control can cause a hormonal surge with two eggs being released at the same time.
When two eggs are released and fertilized at the same time fraternal twins are the result. If you, your mother, or your grandmothers are twins makes the possibility of having twins yourself increase.
Identical twins happen when one egg divides in half resulting in identical twins. If you are an identical twin, you may have an increased possibility of begetting twins yourself. Identical twins usually come about randomly.
The odds of begetting triplets, quadruplets and more multiple children are the consequence of heightened fertility treatments and improvements in reproductive technology.
You can discern that the probability of having twins depends on various circumstances.
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“Multiple Pregnancies.” Utah Department of Health Main Web Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. http://health.utah.gov/mihp/pregnancy/preged/duringpreg/multiplepreg.htm.
“Twins, Triplets, Multiple Births: MedlinePlus.” National Library of Medicine – National Institutes of Health. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/twinstripletsmultiplebirths.html.