Indian Twin Town: What are the Odds?

Recently, a village in India has attracted attention with its unusually high population of twins. Kodinhi, in the southern province of Kerala is home to 2,000 residents, 220 of which are twins! In 2008 alone, twins were born to fifteen out of the three hundred mothers that gave birth in that year. To put this into perspective, the rate for twin births in the U.S. is about 3 in 100. In this village, it is 1 in 10.

Researchers can't identify any explanation for the surge in twins; fertility treatments (which account for increases in the twin birth rate elsewhere in the world) are not available in this poor due to the prohibitive cost. Other factors that contribute to twinning can also be ruled out. Women from the village tend to be smaller and younger than average. As a whole, Asian populations tend to have lower multiple birth rates than other races. So why the tendency towards twinning? One explanation could be that the village's residents are closely related and tend to inter-marry. It's possible that many of the women carry the twin gene that gives them a proclivity towards hyperovulation, which could produce fraternal twins.

At any rate, it's an interesting situation. Want to know more about twin birth rates and the odds of twins?

• The Odds of Twins
• How to Have Twins
• Multiple Birth Rate