Ukrainian woman gives birth to 20th child

IANS
Posted on Apr 22, 2011 at 08:44am IST

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Kiev: A Ukrainian woman has given birth to her 20th child, making her the most prolific mother in the country, media reports said. Leonora Nameni, 41, said she was not going to stop there and was planning to have more children, Xinhua reported. Doctors said the baby boy and his mother were doing well.

The family with 10 sons and 10 daughters lives in a village in West Ukraine, Ukrainian website Ukranews said. Jonathan, the eldest child in the family, is 20 years old and is already married. Six children are working, eight are in school, and six are pre-schoolers.

Both parents were brought up in large families as well. Janos Nameni, the father, has 16 brothers and sisters. Leonora is one of 14 children. The family owns a small farm, where the children work. The parents said they give their children good education and teach them to respect traditions. Television is prohibited in the family.

The most prolific living mother in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is Leontina Albina from Chile who gave birth to 55 children.

(source:ibnlive.in.com)

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World records for number of children

I wondered what the world record was for the number of children born to one mother or to one father. I found an answer athttp://www.uvm.edu/~biology/Classes/271/Sexual_selection.pdf, but don't know if it is correct. The money slide:

Most children born to a woman

The most prolific mother in history was a Russian peasant who had 69 children in the 18th century, 67 of which survived infancy. Between 1725 and 1765, she endured 27 multiple births, which included 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets.

The modern world record for giving birth is held by Leontina Albina from San Antonio, Chile. Now in her mid-sixties, she claims to be the mother of 64 children. Of these, 55 are documented, birth certificates apparently being something of a less-than-serious concern in Chile.

Most children fathered.

The most prolific father of all time is believed to be the last Sharifian Emperor of Morocco, Mulai Ismail (1646-1727). In 1703 he had at least 342 daughters and 525 sons and by 1721 he was reputed to have 700 male descendents.

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