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Mr. Wigley
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many sets of (a) twins, (b) triplets, (c) quadruplets, (d) quintuplets and (e) sextuplets were born in Northern Ireland in each year since 1990; how many maternities there were in each year; and how many multiple births in each category were conceived as a result of (i) in vitro fertilisation, (ii) gamete intra-fallopian transfer and (iii) other forms of assisted conception. [39970]
Mr. Moss
The information requested is set out in the table.
| Type | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 11995 |
| Set of: | ||||||
| (a) twins | 267 | 315 | 258 | 308 | 303 | 324 |
| (b) triplets | 5 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 7 |
| (c) quadruplets | — | — | — | — | — | 2 |
| (d) quintuplets | — | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| (e) sextuplets | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| IVF2 | ||||||
| (i) twins | 12 | 11 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| (ii) triplets | 2 | 1 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| GIFT3 | ||||||
| Maternities | 26,338 | 26,058 | 25,425 | 24,729 | 24,119 | 23,663 |
| 1 Provisional. | ||||||
| 2 These figures are as result of IVF by year of conception. | ||||||
| 3 Gamete intra-fallopian transfer (GIFT) was available in Northern Ireland only in 1986 and 1987. | ||||||
| n/a = not available. | ||||||