China News Service, March 13th. According to a report by Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao on the 12th, a study showed that with the rapid development of medical assisted reproductive technology, more twins are born than ever before, with every 42 newborns. There are a pair of twins.
The research report published in Human Reproduction pointed out that more than 1.6 million twins are born each year.
Data map: The picture shows Sri Lanka, twin children participating in the same event.
Morden, a professor in the Department of Social and Demography at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, said: "The relative and absolute number of twins in the world is higher than at any time since the mid-20th century, and may be an unprecedented high."
Researchers said that the rise of assisted reproductive technology in developed countries in the 1970s resulted in an increase in the number of multiple births. Coupled with older women, the chance of having twins was also higher.
The researchers collected data from 135 countries from 2010 to 2015.
According to research reports, the birth rate of twins in Africa is the highest in the world, presumably because of "genetic differences" between Africa and the rest of the world.
One of the researchers said that the increase in twin birth rates in poorer regions of the world is worrying.
Modern said: "Twin delivery is associated with higher infant and child mortality rates, and it is also associated with women’s greater susceptibility to complications during pregnancy, during and after childbirth."
The co-author of the study, Smith, said: “We need to pay more attention to the fate of twin birth rates in low- and middle-income countries...especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where many twins lose their siblings after one year of birth. According to our earlier research, Almost 200,000 to 300,000 children die every year."