The chances of having twins, triplets or other multiples without the assistance of fertility treatments or procedures like invitro fertilization, are:
- Fraternal Twins – 1 in 80 births
- Identical Twins – 1 in 285
- Triplets – 1 in 8100
- Quadruplets – 1 in 729,000
- Conjoined Twins – 1 in 50,000 – 80,000
- Quintuplets: 1 in 55,000,000
- Quads that are made up of two sets of identical twins: 1 in 25-36 million
The numbers vary slightly in various studies, but pretty much your chance of having ‘unassisted’ multiples is about 3% - 5%.
Some inquisitive people will ask parents if twins are "natural". I always found that a slightly odd way of asking about children; what is an unnatural child, anyway? What they really mean to ask is "Did you have any fertility treatments or procedures done that resulted in twins (triplets, etc.)". As a mother of twins, I much prefer the term "unassisted".
Torey
