Sometimes couples keep having children because their religions do not allow birth control methods, or they can afford to keep having children that will be nourished, loved and cared for. But then you have other people who have children because they can write them off on their taxes, are lazy, or maybe they want to break a record. Here are some of the most prolific families ever.
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#1 The Mother Of 14 Girls Who Won't Stop Until She Has A Son
Augustina Higuera is just 29 years od and has 14 daughters. The Paris, Texas mom, and her family are not going to stop trying. They want a son. She thought she was going to have a boy last year when she gave birth to her third set of twins, two more girls. Her husband wants a boy and she is not going to stop until she gives him a son, she said. The busy mom only sleeps 4 hours a night and drives the children to school in a minibus and must prepare eight different meals a day because of eating restrictions.
#2 The Woman With The Guinness Record For Having The Most Children
The biggest number of children born to one mother is 69. That's how many the wife of Feodor Vassilyev, Margarite, had during her lifetime from 1701-1782. A peasant from Shuya, Russia, she reportedly gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets, though the story remains a mystery. Statistically deemed as an untruth, there are records to prove it actually happened. The case was reported to Moscow by the Nikolsk Monastery in 1782, which had recorded every birth. By that time, only two of the children who were born in the period c. 172565 failed to survive infancy.
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#3 The Brazilian Couple With 13 Sons Who Won't Quit Until They Have A Daughter
If only they could swap with family number 1, because they have the exact opposite predicament. Irineu Cruz and his wife, Jucicleide Silva, of Brazil, have been trying for a daughter for almost 20 years. They keep coming up with boys when all they want is a daughter. The Silvas are pregnant currently and have their fingers crossed but doctors told them it looks like twins. They are hoping it is not two more boys. The couple, from Conceiçao de Coité, near Salvador in Bahia State, now have enough boys to make up a football team. The kids aged from one month to 18 years old are even named after Brazilian footie stars such as Ronaldo and Rivaldo.
#4 The Surrogate Who Gave Birth To 15 Children And Kept Two
The doctors ordered her to stop having babies after she gave birth to fifteen children in just 18 years. Dubbed "Britain's most prolific surrogate", she gave birth to 15 children and kept two for herself. Carole Horlock, 49, from Colchester, Essex, says she is addicted to being pregnant. After she and her partner had two of their own, she wanted to become pregnant again, and they could not afford to add to their family, so she helped a friend and became a surrogate. It snowballed from there. She has given birth to 13 other children as a surrogate mother, including a set of twins and a set of triplets. She last gave birth in April 2013 to a boy weighing 9lb 14oz. "At the time I said he was going to be my last, but having babies is addictive," she said.
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#5 The UAE Superdad Who Has 96 Children And Is Aiming For 100
With 'just' 96 children, Daad Mohammed Murad Abdul Rahman is short four children of a world record. He says he isn't done yet, but the UAE dad is 70-years-old. He has over 170 children and grandchildren who live in 17 different homes and emirates. Daad's eldest son is just 49, and his youngest daughter is just 16 months old. His 96 kids are registered in the Ajman Government Family Register and his target of reaching 100 before he dies has yet to be realized though he says he is hard at work on making his dream come true.
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#6 The Man With 39 Wives, 95 Children, And 23 Grandchildren
Ziona Chana lives with his entire family in the largest building in the hilly village of Baktawng in Mizoram, India. He says '"I consider myself a lucky man to be the husband of 39 women and head of the world's largest family." The family is organized with almost military discipline, with the oldest wife Zathiangi organizing her fellow partners to perform household chores such as cleaning, washing and preparing meals. One evening meal can see them pluck 30 chickens, peel 132lb of potatoes and boil up to 220lb of rice. Coincidentally, Mr Chana is also head of a sect that allows members to take as many wives as he wants. And he is now searching the US for possible new wives to have a few more children with.
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#7 The Sperm Donor Who Fathered 800 Children
A British man is said to be the world's most prolific father after he went broke and began selling his sperm to a donor bank for $75 a pop. The virile 41-year-old, Simon Watson, began selling his magic potion about 16 years ago and is logged to have successfully fulfilled the wishes of over 800 women who wanted a healthy baby. He becomes a new "dad" once every week, and is now selling his goods on Facebook and has recently raked in another 85 buyers of his sperm. He has a constant stream of babies carrying his DNA.
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#8 The Father Who Has Forthy Children With Twenty Different Women
Another of the UK's most prolific fathers, Mike Holpin is not a sperm donor. He does things the old fashioned way. He has 40 children by 20 different women and says he wants to have even more. The 56-year-old unemployed, recovering alcoholic from Ebbw Vale says he doesn't believe in contraception and loves sex. He admits that he can't remember any of his children's names, so he tattoos their names or faces on his back. He says he isn't sure of the exact numbers, but has 22 children with his name and 18 without. This is why the world needs more Planned Parenthood.
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#9 The Man On A Quest To Adopt 1000 Children As Revenge Against Germany
Jürgen Hass, who lives in Paraguay, says it is a personal "act of revenge" against the state. He is exploiting a loophole in the law to become the legal father of 1,000 foreign children so they can claim German passports. so far he has adopted 300 children from seven countries and plans to adopt a further 700 by the end of the year. Hass, a former insurance salesman who lives in Paraguay on a small pension, said he wanted to help the impoverished children to lead better lives by getting to a new country. Under a law on children's rights dating from 1998, a man can become the legal father of a child as long as the mother gives her permission and there is no record of a birth father. Once adopted, the child can gain a German passport and have access to welfare as well as education.
