Nearly 2,500 sets of twins born in the Netherlands last year

In the Netherlands, 2,448 sets of twins and 32 triplets or higher-order multiples were born in 2024, according to new figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The number of multiple births has remained relatively stable over the past decade, with most mothers of multiples between the ages of 35 and 40.

Twin births once peaked in 2002 at 3,707, but have steadily declined since, dropping to just under 2,500 in 2022. Higher-order multiple births reached their record in 1991, when 124 were registered. In the past five years, that figure has fluctuated between 25 and 40 per year.

CBS noted that the decline in multiple births since the early 2000s is partly due to the overall decrease in births, including single births, and partly because of changes in fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization.

Data show that multiple births were far more common in the mid-20th century than in the 1970s. In the 1950s and 1960s, more than 2,800 twin births were recorded annually, with triplets typically numbering between 20 and 40 per year. The lowest point came in the 1970s, when only about 1 percent of all births involved more than one baby.

In contrast, the percentage of multiple births rose again in the 1980s and 1990s, reaching nearly 2 percent around the turn of the century. This increase was closely linked to the rise of fertility treatments.

Hormone therapies and the common practice of transferring multiple embryos during IVF cycles reportedly significantly raised the likelihood of twins and triplets.