DOUBLE THE TWINS!

Is it just me or does it seem like there are twice as many twins being born lately? So many people I know and celebrities are having twins. Twins seem so much more comon, rather than a rareity anymore. Angelina Jolie, Lisa Marie Presley, Rebecca Romijn, Diane Farr, and Jennifer Lopez are just a few of the celebrities with twins or twins on the way. I wanted to find out if it was just a coincidence that I knew so many pregnant with twins or if there really was a twin increase occuring, so I did a little research. The amount of twins being born in the U.S. has actually more than doubled. There has been a 74 percent increase in the number of twin births from 1980 to 2000. About 3% of babies in the United States were born as a twin or multiple in 2000. So why the increase? Fertility treatments immediately came to my mind as the answer to the increase. Although fertility treatments has definately added to the increase, there are other reasons for the increase as well. Age is a big factor, your chances of having twins increases the older you are when you conceive. Another factor is having a family history of twins and your race can increase your chances. Twins are more common in African Americans and least common in Hispanics and Asians. The more pregnancies you have had can increase your chances and if you already have twins. So there are actually quite a few factors that increase your chances of having twins. Because so many celebrities are waiting until later to start their families, I wonder if this is one of the main contributers to the reason for the celebrity twin baby boom.