Modern married couples are in no hurry to acquire offspring. One, two, maximum three children and this is quite enough – this is the opinion of the majority. The most common reasons for this behavior are financial problems and fear of commitment.
People are afraid that they will not be able to “raise” children. Food, clothing, toys, education – they all cost a lot of money. But if you think about it, before people lived not much richer, but families were much larger.
Of course, you shouldn’t compare different eras, now the standard of living is completely different than it was 20, 50 or 100 years ago. People have different goals and dreams. Many people prioritize career, material well-being, and start a family at a more mature age.
This article will focus on the largest families in the world in terms of the number of children born. These names have gone down in history, some of them lived a long time ago, others are our contemporaries. Perhaps their experience will help you in something, and you will decide at least for the first / second / third child. If you do not think about children, do not rush to leave the page, it will be interesting.
- 10. Jose Maria Postigo and Rosa Peach, 15 children
- 9. The Bonell family, 16 children
- 8. Bates family, 19 children
- 7. Duggar family, 19 children
- 6. Shishkin family, 20 children
- 5. Radford family, 21 children
- 4. Guinness family, 21 children
- 3. The Nameni family, 21 children
- 2. Greenhill family, 39 children
- 1. The Vasiliev family, 69 children
Table of Contents
10. Jose Maria Postigo and Rosa Peach, 15 children
A married couple from Spain , record holders for the number of children in their country. Jose Maria Postigo and Rosa Peach themselves were born in large families. They were accustomed to this lifestyle from childhood, so the difficulties did not frighten them. On the contrary, both Jose and Rosa dreamed of repeating the experience of their parents.
Despite the large number of family problems and worries, the spouses took an active life position. They became the organizers of a charitable organization, and Rosa even wrote a book in which she shared her thoughts.
By the way, there could be even more children, three babies died at birth. The next 15 children were born healthy. In 2017, the family suffered misfortune; Jose Maria Postigo died in the spring. All the care for the children fell on the fragile shoulders of Rosa.
9. The Bonell family, 16 children
Jenny from Australia did not even think about children, but apparently, love made her change her outlook on life. Ray and Jenny Bonell are the parents of 16 children. The total number of pregnancies is 23, of which 7 ended in miscarriage. Now they have 9 boys and 7 girls, the Bonellas admit that they would not want to stop there.
Jenny has her own YouTube channel , where she shares the details of the life of her large family. She recently posted a new video where she talked about preparing for the New Year holidays.
About 314 thousand rubles were spent on gifts and groceries, provided that Jenny tries to save money, knows all the promotions in supermarkets, and starts preparing gifts almost in summer.
8. Bates family, 19 children
Jill and Kelly Bates also did not plan such a large family, but God gave them children, and they are glad to every child who came into this world. This married couple is a believer, they do not use contraception.
They are engaged in raising and educating children independently. 9 sons and 10 daughters received home education, did not attend either kindergartens or schools.
In 2012, the premiere of a new reality show on the TLC channel, which is dedicated to the Bates family. Everyone will be able to find out what it is like to bring up 19 children. Jill and Kelly willingly talk about the everyday life of their family.
7. Duggar family, 19 children
The Duggar family is also popular in the United States . Thanks to television, they are known all over the world. They also star in reality shows, they have many followers on social networks .
Jim and Michelle had their first child in 1984. They decided that one would be enough. They currently have 19 children, 10 boys and 9 girls. Children are brought up in severity. TV and Internet are strictly on time, dates are only under the control of parents.
In 2011, Michelle became pregnant again, but lost her baby. Now she is already 54 years old, so dreams of a 20 child are likely to remain dreams.
6. Shishkin family, 20 children
The Shishkin family from the Voronezh region got into the Guinness Book of Records (in Russia). 9 girls and 11 boys. Now the Shishkins are not considered to have many children, since almost all children have already grown up and live in their families, and most of them have more than one child. In total, Alexander and Elena have 48 grandchildren.
The spouses say that life was not easy for them. The main problem is the lack of finance. The head of the family had to work hard, so he rarely saw children. Elena received the Mother Heroine medal; otherwise, the state did little to support a large family. But the Shishkins were not left without help, they are often helped by businessmen and large organizations.
5. Radford family, 21 children
Sue and Noelle Radford from Britain met in childhood. At the age of 14, the girl gave birth to her first child. The parents of the young mother supported her and allowed her to leave the child.
Once Sue came of age, she got married. In the marriage, 20 more children were born, at the moment the Redfords have 10 boys and 11 girls. They live in a huge castle in Lancashire. Noel keeps his bakery, but money is still not enough.
The family is forced to economize on entertainment. A movie or an amusement park for children is a whole event, but the Redfords are not discouraged. They are expecting to be replenished again in 2020.
4. Guinness family, 21 children
Arthur Guinness is known as the founder of the legendary beer brand. Few people know that he was a father of many children. Arthur lived in the 18th century, at that time it was customary to give birth to many children, but against the background of Guinness, other families were lost. In total, the couple had 21 children. Little is known about their lives, 10 children survived to middle age, the rest died in childhood and adolescence.
Interesting fact: Arthur is directly related to the Guinness Book of Records. He decided to create it when, among the visitors of the pub, disputes began to arise on this or that issue.
3. The Nameni family, 21 children
The history of the Nameni family is very similar to all the previous ones. Janos and Leonora live in Ukraine, in the village of Ostritsa. Large families are not uncommon here, but Nameni are leaders in the number of children.
Spouses believe in God and rely on his will in everything. They do not count on the state, they live thanks to agriculture. Leonora gave birth to her 21st child at the age of 44, now he is 5 years old. The woman got into the Guinness Book of Records (Ukraine), and she was also awarded the medal “Mother Heroine”.
2. Greenhill family, 39 children
The Greenhill family lived in the 17th century. Elizabeth gave birth to 39 children, went through 37 births. There were 32 girls and 7 boys in total. Surprisingly, with that level of medicine, not a single birth of Elizabeth ended in failure. She gave birth to her last child at the age of 54. Apparently, the woman’s health was excellent.
One of her sons became a famous person. Surgeon Thomas Greenhill has done research and has written The Art of Embalming. He succeeded considerably in this matter.
1. The Vasiliev family, 69 children
The wife of Fyodor Vasiliev also got into the Book of Records. The man was a serf peasant and lived in the 18th century. The name of his wife is unknown, but this woman did the impossible, she gave birth to 69 children. Of these, 67 survived, two died in infancy. It took her 40 years to do this.
In total, she survived 27 births. There were twins, twins, triplets, and quadruplets. Surprisingly, when the woman died, Fedor married again. In his second marriage, he had 18 children. Information taken from the annals of the Nikolsky monastery.