What was the highest number of children ever born to one mother?

According to Guinness World Records 2001, the highest officially recorded number of children born to one mother is 69, to the first wife of Feodor Vassilyev (1707-1782) of Shuya, Russia. Between 1725 and 1765, in a total of 27 confinements, she gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets. 67 of them survived infancy.


The modern world record for giving birth is held by Leontina Albina from San Antonio, Chile. Now in her mid-sixties, Leontina claims to be the mother of 64 children, of which only 55 of them are documented, birth certificates apparently being something of a less-than-serious concern for destitute Chileans. She is listed in the 1999 Guinness book but mysteriously dropped from later editions.