2. What are the odds of having a multiple birth?

According the the Centers for Disease Control's National Vital Statistics Report Births: Final Data for 2006:

• 32.1 twin births occur per every 1,000 total live births
• 1.533 triplet or higher order birth occur per every 1,000 total live births

In 2006, 143,625 live multiple birth babies were born in the United States:

• 137,085 Twins
• 6,118 Triplets
• 355 Quadruplets
• 67 Quintuplets and Above

Due to medical advances in fertility therapy, the chance of having a multiple birth has increased in the past two decades; however that trend is slowly reversing for triplet+ births. The rate of triplet births peaked in 2002, and has slowly been declining since.

Despite the increase in these births, multiples, especially higher-order multiple births (triplets or more), are often of interest to the media. Because media exposure has both benefits and risks, MOST has put together a policy statement on media exposure and multiple births to help media professionals appreciate the unique needs of multiple birth families as well as help parents of multiples with the various considerations of working with print, TV, radio, film and other forms of media.

Factors that can increase the odds of having a multiple birth:

• Higher maternal age at conception (particularly women over age 45)
• The previous birth of fraternal twins/multiples
• A history of fraternal multiples in the female lineage
• A taller than average mother (see video on a study conducted by Gary Steinman, MD, PhD. on height and multiples)
• The use of fertility medications and assisted reproductive technology (See Supertwins 101 FAQ #4 for more information on the use of fertility treatments and the risks of conceiving triplets or more)*

See our General Facts about Multiple Births page for more statistics on the odds of having multiples. For example, learn the odds of identical triplets, the odds of identical quadruplets, the odds of spontaneous triplets, the odds of identical quadruplets, and much more.

*MOST encourages prospective parents who are undergoing fertility treatment to thoroughly discuss the potential benefits and risks of any proposed treatment course with their health care practitioners. We are happy to offer such individuals information about the challenges of parenting higher-order multiples, and to refer expectant parents to high-quality sources of information for pregnancy and parenting. For more information, see the MOST Recommendations on the Responsible Use of Fertility Treatments (PDF).

Source: Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Sutton PD, Ventura SJ, et al. Births: Final data for 2006. National vital statistics reports; vol 57 no 7. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2009. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_07.pdf

Visit the MOST Supertwins Statistics page to learn more about the odds of multiple births.

MOST also offers our book Expecting Multiples: A Comprehensive Guide covering a variety of topics related to pregnancy and delivery of higher-order multiples.

No matter what the odds of having higher-order multiples are, you are not alone. Join MOST today to share experiences with other parents of triplets or more.

Please Note:
MOST provides these FAQs for informational purposes and cautions visitors not to use the content below to make treatment decisions without personally consulting a qualified health care provider. Reuse of this content without proper citation is a violation of copyright. To obtain permission to use Supertwins 101 content contact MOST.