ABSTRACT
In the countries of Western Europe, as in other developed countries, patterns of multiple pregnancy and births changed dramatically during the last quarter of the 20th century. This chapter outlines trends in twin, triplet and higher-order births, estimates zygosity in a range of countries, and then compares age-specific multiple birth rates in England and Wales and France before using data from France, England and Wales and Scotland to look at changes in the birth weight and gestational age distribution of multiple births and the impact of changes in multiple birth on trends in low birth weight and preterm birth. Before doing so, however, the chapter discusses differences between countries at the turn of the century. The sources of the data used are listed in the Appendix.
