Twins

[أم بدر الدين]

Twins are two offspring resulting from the same pregnancy, either of the same or opposite sex.

The general term for more than one offspring from the same pregnancy (multiple birth) is multiples, for example triplets refers to cases of three offspring from the same pregnancy. A fetus alone in the womb is called a singleton.

Twins are usually, but not necessarily, born in close succession. Due to the limited size of the mother's womb, multiple pregnancies are much less likely to carry to full term than singleton births, with twin pregnancies lasting only 37 weeks on average, 3 weeks less than full term.[1] Since premature births can have health consequences for the babies, twin births are often handled with special precautions.

Twins can either be monozygotic (MZ, colloquially, "identical") or dizygotic (DZ, colloquially, "fraternal"). There are estimated to be approximately 125 million human twins and triplets in the world (roughly 1.9% of the world population), and just 10 million monozygotic twins (roughly 0.2% of the world population and 8% of all twins).[2] The current rate in the United States is 31 twin births per 1,000 women.[3]

The Yoruba, a large west African ethnic group, have the highest rate of twinning in the world.