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Article: Twin facts - twin facts.
- Article from:
- Pediatrics for Parents
- Article date:
- April 1, 1991
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Pediatrics for Parents, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The world-wide individual twin count is about 125 million.
The overall incidence of twins in the United States is about one in 80 births.
Triplets are born about once in 10,000 births.
Identical twins occur at a constant rate (one in 250 births) regardless of race or ethnic background.
In the United States alone, Orientals have the lowest frequency of fraternal twinning at about one in 140 births.
For a long period of Chinese history, twins were considered shameful and were killed at birth. Since the tendency to produce fraternal twins is hereditary, this systematic interruption of the hereditary chain made it less likely ...