Multiple numbers

If you are interested in numbers about multiples, the ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) website is the place to go!

Births, Australia, 2007 (Cat. no. 3301.0, released October 2008) - as the name suggests - details information about births in Australia for 2007, including multiple births. To quote:

"The number of confinements resulting in a multiple birth has increased consistently since the 1970s. In 2007, the number was 4,400, 64% more than the number recorded in 1987 (2,700 confinements) and 1% more than the number recorded in 2006 (4,300 confinements)."

For 2007, the data are as follows:

	Single	Twins	Triplets and higher order	Total multiple births	Total confinements
NSW	86,849	1,296	18	1,314	88,163
Vic.	67,922	1,173	16	1,189	69,111
Qld	59,311	943	17	960	60,271
SA	19,112	266	8	274	19,386
WA	28,308	412	12	424	28,732
Tas.	6,504			74	6,578
NT	3,792			51	3,843
ACT	4,600			76	4,676
Aust.	276,419	4,287	75	4,362	280,781

An in-depth look at the numbers of multiple births was done by the ABS in 2001, and also makes for interesting reading.