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 2005:

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

In 2005, 139,816 live multiple birth babies were born in the United States:

• 133,122 Twins
• 6,208 Triplets
• 418 Quadruplets
• 68 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 1999, and has slowly been declining since. (Note: The chance of having a triplet birth rose from 37 per 100,000 live births in 1980 to 193.5 per 100,000 live births in 1998.)

Known factors that increase the odds of having a multiple birth include:

• 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
• 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, J.A, Hamilton, Ph.D., B.E., Sutton, Ph.D., P.D, Ventura, M.A., S.J., Menacker, Dr. P.H., F., Kirmeyer, PhD., S. & Munson, M.L. (2007, December 5 ). Centers for Disease Controls' National Vital Statistics Report: Births Final Data for 2005, 56(6). Retrieved March 7, 2008 from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_06.pdf

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

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.