I feel fortunate, fortunate, and ecstatic that small me has five blessed offspring ten years after my first pair of ᴛᴡɪɴꜱ, one of each this time. All women are encouraged by God’s continual joy in me to believe in and wait for such Mɪʀᴀᴄʟᴇs. My joy has no limits. You are God. My elderly children. I had twin boys when I was 30, and now, at 40, I’m having one of each. I appreciate you, heavenly Father.

Margaretha is an African wOᴍᴀɴ who belongs to the Yoruba tribe. A ʙᴀʙʏ’s birth is a happy occasion. It is frequently praised and applauded. Members of the Yoruba tribe, which has its roots in Nɪɢᴇʀia, frequently give birth to ᴛᴡɪɴꜱ. Since the birth of two children from the same pregnancy is a very rare phenomenon, ᴛᴡɪɴꜱ are frequently regarded as exceptional. The birth rate of ᴛᴡɪɴꜱ varies by location and nation around the world. The lowest rates are found in Latin America and Southeast Asia, where just 9 sets of ᴛᴡɪɴꜱ are born for every 1,000 live births.

In the United States, there are approximately 33 ᴛᴡɪɴꜱ born for every 1,000 live births, compared to approximately 16 ᴛᴡɪɴꜱ in Europe. And for every 1,000 births, there are between 18 to 30 sets of ᴛᴡɪɴꜱ in central Africa. However, with roughly 50 sets of ᴛᴡɪɴꜱ for every 1,000 live births, the Yoruba people of southwest Nɪɢᴇʀia are the ones with the highest rate of twin births worldwide.

Additionally, one Yoruba village, in particular, appears to hold the world record for the greatest number of multiple births.

Unconfirmed estimates from the sleepy agrarian town of Igbo Ora claim that it has 158 sets of ᴛᴡɪɴꜱ for every 1,000 live births, making it the undisputed twin capital of the world. Igbo Ora is 80 kilometres from Lagos.

Visitors are greeted at the town’s entrance by a huge plinth that proudly proclaims the town’s reputation as “the land of ᴛᴡɪɴꜱ.”

While there is no scientific explanation for the high number of twin births in the town of Yorubalad, fertility experts speculate that it may be related to the consumption of a particular variety of yam that contains a natural phytoestrogen thought to stimulate a wOᴍᴀɴ’s ovaries to release eggs from both sides.

The indigenous residents of Igbo Ora, however, assert that their staple diet of yam and okra plant leaves is to blame for their ᴍᴀɴy pregnancies. We consume a lot of okra leaf or Ilasa soup, a community leader claimed in an interview from 2013. We consume a lot of yams, and these diets affect the likelihood of multiple births.

One could hardly enter a home in Igbo Ora, Oyo State, without encountering a pair of ᴛᴡɪɴꜱ. The indigenous people of the region think that a particular variety of okra leaves known as ewe ilasa has the power to induce twin pregnancies in women who consume it. Taiwo Abiodun wrote about the occurrence after visiting the town.