How common are twins statistically?

[ahhhhhpushit]

I they can only run down the female line and identical twins are a total fluke but does anyone know how common they are?

I read 10% somewhere which sounds like a lot!

I read something like 1 in 80 naturally but 1 in 40 with all pregnancies inc IVF, clomid etc.

Mine were my 5th pregnancy (out of 8) and the only twin pregnancy. But there are many sets in my family (all non ID).

I'm not sure how common it is but my mum is a non-identical twin so all my life people have told be that I'll probably have twins. It's become such an ingrained part of my thinking around having children that in my mind I'll "definitely" have twins. So daft! The odds are of course still well on the side of a single baby.

According to the Multiple Births Foundation it's one in 80 for 'natural' pregnancies (so not IVF) Here

I guess births is very different to conceptions though?

Ah, yes, you're probably right... [twat emoticon]

No not at all!! I was just thinking aloud!

I imagine failure rate is higher for twins, or maybe for one twin if not both.

When I was pg with my ID twins, I was told that it's 1 in 80 live births. (not nice - sorry - but that's what we were told) for natural twins.

It is higher than singles - that website linky gives statistics (not that you'd really want to read them, but they're there )

Even in IVF clinics the twin rate varies, and then again by age as younger women are more likely to have only a single embryo transferred. My clinic's overall multiple rate was about 30%, I had 2 cycles and had a singleton, and then twins. On the day of embryo transfer for the twins I actually argued that I wanted three embryos replacing! Thankfully I was dissuaded...