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According to Al Arabiya:

A 40-year-old Palestinian woman has given birth to 69 kids, her husband was quoted as saying by Gaza Al-An news agency.

The husband confirmed that his wife died on Sunday.

According to global statistics, the deceased mother was the most fertile woman in the world.

Is this story true?

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JonathanReez
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  • It isn't clear from the source, do they claim that she birthed them all in one pregnancy? – SIMEL Mar 04 '17 at 17:51
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    @SIMEL I assume it was a lifetime "achievement", but it doesn't say so directly – JonathanReez Mar 04 '17 at 17:53
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    Simple math suggests this is improbable. Assume she first became pregnant at 15 (just to make the math easy). 25 years = 300 months. Given that a pregnancy lasts 9 months, that's 33 pregnancies. So virtually all the births would have had to have been twins or triplets, and the woman would have had to become pregnant immediately after giving birth. – jamesqf Mar 04 '17 at 19:12
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    @jamesqf: We should *expect* the most fertile woman in the world to be have had a very unlikely number of multiple births - on the order of 1 in tens of billions. – Oddthinking Mar 05 '17 at 00:39
  • The phrase "her husband was quoted as saying" means that someone told the website that the husband said that. Even the website isn't stating that this is a fact, or even that it was definitely claimed. – DJClayworth Mar 05 '17 at 05:04
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    @jamesqf: But the official world record number of births by a single woman is 69. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_the_most_children#Female_and_monogamous_couples http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-prolific-mother-ever –  Mar 05 '17 at 10:09
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    @KennyLJ no real proof of that either – JonathanReez Mar 05 '17 at 10:13
  • @Kenny LJ: Even if that claim was proved, the woman had a much longer time to do it it. – jamesqf Mar 06 '17 at 18:27
  • @KennyLJ That claim is analyzed here: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151020-did-one-woman-really-give-birth-to-69-children – DavePhD Mar 16 '17 at 18:16

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