There are now more twins being born in the U.S. than ever before

We knew this was a big moment in #twinning, but we didn’t realize this was THE moment in #twinning.

As the Washington Post reports, the CDC just released the final report on births in the United States, and it looks like we just hit an all-time record number for twin births. Apparently, 2014 saw 33.9 sets of twins per 1000 births.

Okay, before we get overexcited and start petitioning to have the United States renamed “Twin Nation,” let’s keep in mind that this isn’t a DRAMATIC increase in twin births from 2013, which saw 33.7 sets of twins per 1000 births.

That said, it looks like twins are on the rise. The question becomes, of course, why?

Well, first of all, the average age for a first-time mother is on the rise (26.3 years old, up from 26 in 2013) and the birthrate is increasing for women in their 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s. This is important because, according to at least one study, older moms are more likely to have twins.

And, of course, many older women use IVF  in order to conceive, and in the past doctors implanted a high number of embryos when treating with IVF, trying to create at least one viable embryo, but in some cases, creating 2 or 3, which would result in IVF twins and triplets. In fact, in 2013,  one-third or U.S. twins and three-quarters of U.S. triplets were the result of IVF treatments. As IVF has evolved and improved, now doctors often only implant two or one embryos, because the rate of success is so high.

So we’ll probably see less triplets in the future, but it looks like this is the dawning of the Age of Gemini, #twinningforever.

(Image via Disney)