Kodinhi – Kerala (Village of Twins)

The village of Kodinhi situated about 35 km south of Calicut is home to about 2000 families. The village has a Muslim majority and is known for its very high rate of twin births. As of 2009 thevillage boasted of 220 sets of twins (440 individuals) and two sets of triplets officially. A local doctor though believes this number to be higher in the range of 300 to 350 pairs. He says this phenomenon began three generations ago and the numbers have been increasing exponentially with each passing year. Another fact that bucks the trend is that even women from Kodinhi who are married off to faraway places have exceptionally high rates of twin births. The fact that a large percentage of these twins are under the age of 20, the potential for mischief is enormous, the most common being that they often swap classes in school.