The number of twins, triplets and other multiple births in South Korea has tripled over the past 20 years, in contrast with declining total births every year, recent data shows.

According to Statistics Korea, multiple births in the country numbered 16,166 in 2015, or 3.7 percent of all babies born in the same year. The number is 70 percent higher than in 1995, but the proportion as a total of all babies has nearly tripled over the same period.

The number of multiples born marked 10,692 babies, or 1.7 percent of all births, in 2000, 12,841 (2.7 percent) in 2010, and 15,180 (3.5%) in 2014.