A Russian woman named Valentina Vassilyeva and her husband Feodor Vassilyev are alleged to hold the record for the most children a couple has produced. She gave birth to a total of 69 children – sixteen pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets – between 1725 and 1765, a total of 27 births.
Most prolific mother ever
The record for number of children born to one mother is 69 in the 1700s, according to Guinness. She was the wife to Feodor Vassilyev, a peasant from Shuya, Russia. She gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets.
The most fertile woman in history is alleged to be an 18th-century Russian peasant called Valentina Vassilyev. Between 1725 and 1765, she is recorded as giving birth to a total of 69 children – 67 of whom survived infancy. This included 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets.
The man who is thought to have fathered the most children of all time is Moroccan Sultan Ismail Ibn Sharif (1645 to 1727) with a total of more than 1,000, according to Guinness World Records.
She was born in Russia in the 18th century and she is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having given birth to the most children ever. Her and her husband Feodor Vassilyev allegedly parented 69 children, of which Valentina gave birth to every single one.
Jeni Bonell, 52, and her husband Ray, from Queensland, have a super-sized family consisting of 16 kids - nine sons and seven daughters aged between seven and 32. Now, one of Jeni's daughters, Brooke, has given birth to a little girl, who has been named Odette Faith.
One study estimated a woman can have around 15 pregnancies in a lifetime. And depending on how many babies she births for each pregnancy, she'd probably have around 15-30 children. But the "most prolific mother ever," according to Guinness World Records, was Mrs. Feodor Vassilyev in 19th century Russia.
Known as the Sperminator the inseminator, or perhaps even "America's Dad," Ari Nagel is the biological father to over 100 children across the world.
Erramatti Mangamma currently holds the record for being the oldest living mother who gave birth at the age of 73 through in-vitro fertilisation via caesarean section in the city of Hyderabad, India. She delivered twin baby girls, making her also the oldest mother to give birth to twins.
The title of mother with the most children ever goes to a Russian peasant woman named Feodor Vassilyev, who lived in the 1700s. She gave birth to a total of 69 children sixteen pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets.
The twins Timothy and Lydia Ridgeway were born 30 years after they were frozen as embryos in 1992. They hold the record for developing from the longest-frozen embryos known to result in a live birth. The adopted embryos were frozen in 1992, and the twins were born exactly three decades later.
6. The Largest Multiple Birth Happened in 2021. In May 2021, news broke that a 25-year-old Malian woman gave birth to nine babies (nonuplets), even though she was expecting seven. She ended up breaking a world record for multiple births.
In fact, newborns, both girls and boys, look more like their mothers until they are one year old and then like their fathers. Of course, there are still many mysteries to be solved concerning the mechanisms leading to resemblance.
Father and mother – children need both of them for healthy development. It is less about gender-specific role models and more about biological sex itself. When mom and dad are equally available, babies prefer... both, Swedish family therapist Jesper Juul says.
First-born kids tend to be leaders, like CEOS and founders, and are more likely to achieve traditional success. Middle-born children often embody a mix of the traits of older and younger siblings, and they're very relationship-focused.
The world's oldest father is believed to be Mr Ramajit Raghav, who was 94 years old when he fathered his first child in 2010. He and his then 52-year-old wife Shakuntala Devi had another son two years later.
According to Guinness World Records, the oldest father who had the documentation to prove it was Australian Les Colley, who in 1991 fathered a son with his third wife when he was 92. Here are some other notable men who had their mojos working well into their golden years.
There's no maximum age that stops a man from being able to have a baby. You can become a father long into your older years, but there are risks.
He is head of the world's biggest family - and says he is 'blessed' to have his 39 wives. Ziona Chana also has 94 children, 14-daughters-in-law and 33 grandchildren.
For many who knew him during his lifetime, the name Acentus Akuku 'Danger' is synonymous to polygamy. Call him the grandmaster of seduction if you must because he was Kenya's most prominent polygamist and is reported to have married more than 100 women in his lifetime and fathered over 200 children.
Of course, as women age, the odds of conceiving also gradually lower. The ideal childbearing age is often considered to be in the late 20s and early 30s. Pregnancies later in life could come with some health risks.
While a 92-year-old woman delivering a 60-year-old baby may sound like a bizarre plot twist from the movie “Benjamin Button,” it's true. Huang Yijun, 92, of southern China, recently delivered a child which she'd been carrying for well over half a century. The baby wasn't alive, however.
The study also found that two girls were more well behaved, got along better and were more likely to help around the house. However, doubling the number of girls does not make for a happier home. Researchers found that a family of four girls was the worst combination of children.
Now, the 13 remaining genetic members of the Thompson family — originally 16, including parents — are closing in on the world record for highest combined age, with 1,071 years between them.