The oldest recorded mother to date to conceive was 73 years, while the youngest mother was 5 years old. According to statistics from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, in the UK more than 20 babies are born to women over age 50 per year through in-vitro fertilization with the use of donor oocytes (eggs).
Xinju Tian, who was 67 years old when she gave birth in 2023, set a new record for the oldest woman to give birth naturally.
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.
How many babies were born during the longest recorded human pregnancy? The longest recorded human pregnancy was 375 days, or just over 12 and a half months, according to Guinness World Records. During this pregnancy, a woman named Beulah Hunter gave birth to a healthy baby girl in 1945.
James Elgin Gill was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on May 20, 1987, around 128 days early or 21 weeks gestation. He set a record when he was born for the world's most premature baby.
Women can reproduce for about half of their lifetime and can only give birth about once every year or so. So it makes sense that women can only have a fraction as many children as men. One study estimated a woman can have around 15 pregnancies in a lifetime.
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.
Estela Melendez said she never knew she had been pregnant
A 91-year-old woman discovered she has been carrying a foetus in her womb for more than 60 years. Estela Melendez, 91, from the small town of La Boca in Chile, was given the news by doctors after having an x-ray following a fall.
Women can become pregnant after menopause with a donor egg or embryo, but these women also report increased complications during the process. If you are a surrogate mother in menopause, you are at more risk for: Gestational diabetes. Pregnancy-induced high blood pressure.
The website of the world record authority Guinness World Records lists the oldest father ever as Australian Les Colley (1898-1998), who allegedly fathered his ninth child at age 92 with a Fijian woman he met through a dating agency.
Smith's age was disputed; he claimed to have been born in 1849, but other records suggested he may have been 15 years younger. Raghav became the world's oldest father at age 94 when his first child was born in 2010.
“It's exceptionally rare for patients to get pregnant naturally at 50 or over 45. They make history,” said Dr. David Keefe, an obstetrician-gynecologist and fertility researcher at New York University. In part that's because around age 50, many women are entering menopause, after which egg harvesting isn't possible.
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.
Guinness World Records named Beatie the "World's First Married Man to Give Birth" in 2010. In a TV broadcast from Rome, Italy, Guinness World Records presented him with the title of "Unico Uomo Incinto al Mondo", translated as "World's First Pregnant Man".
In 2021, an 11-year-old became what at least one doctor believed to be the youngest person to give birth in the U.K., according to a report by British news outlet The Sun. The girl became pregnant at 10 years old and delivered her child after more than 30 weeks of pregnancy.
Kora Duke had her first baby in 2001, at the age of 17. She was then pregnant for most of the next decade, giving birth to her last child in 2012. Now 39 years old, she relishes the large family she shares with her partner of 23 years, Andre Duke, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Susie and Tony Troxler became first-time parents at 50 and 61. They say their daughter Lily is the poster child for hope. Their fertility journey is inspiring people everywhere. Susie and Tony Troxler became first-time parents at 50 and 61.
Male fertility generally starts to reduce around age 40 to 45 years when sperm quality decreases. Increasing male age reduces the overall chances of pregnancy and increases time to pregnancy (the number of menstrual cycles it takes to become pregnant) and the risk of miscarriage and fetal death.
Although men never stop producing sperm throughout their lives, sperm production does begin decreasing after age 35. Motility, volume and genetic quality of sperm of older men are less likely to achieve a successful pregnancy even in younger women.
A male's body is constantly creating sperm, but sperm regeneration is not immediate. On average, it takes a male around 74 days to produce new sperm from start to finish. Although the average time is 74 days , the actual time frame for an individual to make sperm can vary.
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.
According to a local monastery's report to the government in Moscow, between 1725 and 1765 Mrs Vassilyev popped out 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets, over 27 separate labours. The grand total: 69 children.
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.