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List of youngest parents

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(Redirected from Mum-Zi)

This is a list of youngest parents, documenting cases in which individuals became parents at exceptionally early ages. Such cases have often attracted medical, legal, and public attention due to their rarity and the significant health risks and ethical considerations involved. This list is not comprehensive and only includes records or other historically notable cases.

Youngest mothers

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Lina Medina in 1939

Lina Medina

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Lina Medina, a Peruvian girl, became the youngest confirmed mother in history when she gave birth to her son Gerardo on 14 May 1939 aged 5 years, 7 months, and 21 days.[1][2] Based on the medical assessments of her pregnancy, she was four years old when she became pregnant, which was biologically possible due to precocious puberty.[3] The father was not conclusively determined.[1] Contemporary medical examiners and professional pediatricians heavily debated her true age, with some suggestions that she may have actually been 8 or 9 years old.[4]

Yelizaveta "Liza" P.

[edit]

In 1934, a girl named Yelizaveta "Liza" P. from Soviet Ukraine gave birth at 6 years old after being raped by her maternal grandfather.[5] The baby, a girl, died in childbirth due to an umbilical cord problem though Liza survived. Her fate afterwards is unknown. Some sources incorrectly state her last name was Gryshchenko;[6] this was in fact the name of the doctor who delivered the baby.[7][8]

Unnamed girl ("H.")

[edit]

On 18 March 1932, a girl known only as H., who was 6 years and 7 months old according to government records (though her father gave her age as 7 years) gave birth to a healthy baby girl in Delhi, India. The girl fully recovered and was able to nurse the baby for nine months.[9]

Other notable cases

[edit]

There have been extremely rare documented instances of girls giving birth at 8–10 years old.[10] One of the most notable historical cases was Swiss girl Anna Mummenthaler, who gave birth to her daughter on 6 December 1759 aged 8 years, 9 months, and 29 days; reportedly the father was her uncle.[10]

Youngest fathers

[edit]

Unlike the record for the youngest mother, the record for the youngest confirmed father has not been definitively published.

Hsi family

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In 1910, a 9-year-old boy in China was reported to have fathered a child with an 8-year-old girl. These are considered the youngest recorded parents in combined age.[11][12] According to a 1957 Ripley's publication, the family name was Hsi and they were farmers in Amoy (Xiamen).[13]

Alberto S.

[edit]

In 2015, a boy from the Mexican state of Chiapas fathered a child at 11 years old.[14] The boy had been sold by his parents to another family at 10 years old in exchange for some cattle, and he was forced to live with a 16-year-old girl who became the mother of his child. Telemundo stated he "could be the youngest father in the world".[15]

Other notable cases

[edit]

In 2001, state records showed that the youngest father in Illinois was 10 years old,[16] and in 2009, that the youngest father in North Dakota was 11 years old.[17] However, further information about these cases is not available.

There have been rare documented instances of 12-year-old boys fathering children, with notable examples including a boy from the United Kingdom in 1998[18] and a boy from Kerala, India in 2017.[19]

Youngest grandmothers

[edit]

Mum-Zi

[edit]
September 1929 Ripley's "Believe It or Not" feature with Mum-Zi

Mum-Zi was a Nigerian girl who is said to have been the youngest known grandmother in history, at 17 years old.[20][21][22] The first written source that is known to have reported on Mum-Zi was a syndicated Ripley's Believe It or Not! newspaper feature in September 1929.[23][24] The story was published with a few additional details in "The New Believe It or Not!" in 1931, Ripley's second Believe It or Not volume.[25][26] Subsequent sources about her life have contained similar information as Ripley's accounts; the extent of independent corroboration is unclear as there were no official medical or birth records at the time.

According to the story, Mum-Zi was from the island of Calabar in Nigeria. At the age of seven, she was forced to join the harem of the island's ruler, Chief Akkiri, and shortly after became pregnant.[27] She gave birth at age eight years and four months to a healthy baby girl.[27][28] Mum-Zi's daughter was also forced into the harem and gave birth at eight or nine years old (sources vary, with Ripley saying nine in the original 1929 article, and eight in subsequent books), making Mum-Zi a grandmother at age 17.[20][29][30] Some sources have claimed Mum-Zi was raised a Muslim,[31] or gave birth in 1884,[6][32] details which did not appear in Ripley's original story.

Other notable cases

[edit]

There have been rare documented instances of women becoming grandmothers in their twenties, with a notable example including an unidentified woman from Rotherham, United Kingdom, who became a grandmother at 26 years old as her 12-year-old daughter gave birth on 26 August 1999.[33]

A Romanian woman from the Romani community was widely reported to have become a grandmother at age 23;[34][35] information about this case originated from the British tabloid press in 2011 and independent confirmation is unknown.[36][37]

Other records

[edit]

Claims for the youngest grandfather in the world have not been reliably published.

Guinness World Records lists the youngest great-great-great grandmother as Canadian Harriet Holmes (aged 88 years 50 days on 8 March 1987)[38] and the youngest great-great-great-great grandmother as American Augusta Bunge (aged 109 years 100 days on 21 January 1989).[39]

Occurrence of pre-teen parenthood

[edit]

Available data indicates that pre-teen pregnancy is significantly rarer than teen pregnancy. A UNICEF study of Thailand between 2004 and 2013 found 938 registered births from mothers aged 10–12, compared to 28,605 from mothers aged 13–14.[40] The CDC recorded the 2016 birth rate of girls aged 10–12 in the United States as 0.11 per 10,000, compared to 1.80 for age 13 and 9.30 for age 14.[41]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 Mikkleson, David (7 February 2015). "Youngest Mother". Snopes. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  2. ↑ "Six decades later, world's youngest mother awaits aid". The Telegraph. Kolkata. 27 August 2002. Archived from the original on 22 July 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
  3. ↑ "Raped 5 year-old Peruvian is world's youngest mum". P.M. News. Lagos, Nigeria. 2 July 2020. Archived from the original on 2022-12-27. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  4. ↑ TIME (1939-05-29). "Medicine: Little Mother". TIME. Retrieved 2026-08-09.
  5. ↑ Хажинский, П. Х.; Ершов, С. И. (1934). "О «pubertas praecox» и беременность и срочные роды у шестилетней девочки" [About "pubertas praecox" and pregnancy and term delivery in a six-year-old girl]. Журнал акушерства и женских болезней. 44 (1): 173–180.
  6. 1 2 Evans, Natalie (2013-02-06). "Babies having babies: A new mum aged NINE and the world's youngest mothers in medical history". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2026-04-11.
  7. ↑ ТКАЧУК, Тарас (2004-04-02). "Самая молодая мама в истории человечества 6-летняя Лиза из Харькова, забеременела… от собственного деда-моряка". Факты (in Russian). Retrieved 2026-04-11.
  8. ↑ "Родила в 6 лет: печальная и таинственная судьба самой молодой матери в СССР". РЕН ТВ (in Russian). 2018-11-02. Retrieved 2026-04-10.
  9. ↑ "A Case of Maternity at Seven Years of Age". BMJ. 2 (3794): 567–569. 1933-09-23. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.3794.567. ISSN 0959-8138. Retrieved 2026-04-10.
  10. 1 2 Janssen, Diederik F (2020-11-13). "Puer barbatus: Precocious Puberty in Early Modern Medicine". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 76 (1). Oxford University Press (OUP): 20–52. doi:10.1093/jhmas/jraa045. ISSN 0022-5045. PMC 7737932.
  11. ↑ Hyde, Janet Shibley (1986). Understanding Human Sexuality. McGraw-Hill. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-07-031587-7. Retrieved 2025-09-08.
  12. ↑ Zastrow, Charles; Kirst-Ashman, Karen Kay (2000-07-13). Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment. Cengage Learning. p. 245. ISBN 978-0-534-54701-1. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  13. ↑ Ripley, Robert LeRoy (1957). Ripley's Believe it Or Not: Wonder Book of Strange Facts. Universal Guild. Retrieved 2025-09-08.
  14. ↑ "A los 11 años se convirtió en el papá más joven del mundo" (in Spanish). Los Angeles Times en Español. 2015-11-13. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  15. ↑ "Con 11 años, niño mexicano es el padre más joven del mundo". Telemundo (in Spanish). 2015-11-12. Retrieved 2026-04-11.
  16. ↑ "2001 Illinois Selected Vital Statitics". Illinois Department of Public Health. Archived from the original on 2023-01-16. Retrieved 2026-04-10.
  17. ↑ "North Dakota Fast Facts 2009" (PDF). North Dakota Department of Health. Retrieved 2026-04-11.
  18. ↑ Watson-Smyth, Kate (1998-01-21). "Sean, 12, is the youngest father". The Independent. Retrieved 2026-04-11.
  19. ↑ Sudhi, K S (2017-03-23). "Kerala boy becomes father at 12". The Hindu. Retrieved 2026-04-11.
  20. 1 2 "Des femmes et des bébés" (in French). Jeune Afrique. 2005-02-05. Archived from the original on 2025-09-12. Retrieved 2026-08-09.
  21. ↑ Paschall, J.; Lyon, R. (1997). Hatches, Matches and Dispatches: Birth, Marriage and Burial Around the World. HarperCollins. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-00-638815-9. Retrieved 2025-09-07.
  22. ↑ Ploeg, Peter van der (2011-03-29). "Een risicovolle geboorte: meisje van 12 bevalt van dochter". NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 2025-09-24.
  23. ↑ (7 September 1929). Believe It or Not, Shreveport Times
  24. ↑ (6 September 1929). Believe It or Not, Edmonton Bulletin, p. 16
  25. ↑ (31 October 1931). One of the Illustrations from Ripley's New Book, Kansas City Star
  26. ↑ (8 March 1932). Between Ourselves, The Australian Woman's Mirror, p. 14
  27. 1 2 McFarland, Kevin (1976). Incredible!. Hart Publishing Company. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-8055-1195-6. Retrieved 2025-09-07.
  28. ↑ Africa International (in French). Africa S.A. 1990. p. 75. Retrieved 2025-09-07.
  29. ↑ Ripley, Robert LeRoy (1957). Ripley's Believe it Or Not: Wonder Book of Strange Facts. Universal Guild. Retrieved 2025-09-07.
  30. ↑ Lyall, Archibald (1936). The Future of Taboo in These Islands. K. Paul, Trench, Trubner. p. 114. Retrieved 2025-09-08.
  31. ↑ Fremy, Dominique (1995). Quid 1996. Robert Laffont. ISBN 978-2-221-08055-9. Retrieved 2025-09-07. (stating that Mum-Zi was "une Noire musulmane")
  32. ↑ "Nejmladší matce na světě bylo pět let. Porodila před 75 roky". Czech News Agency (Aktuálně.cz) (in Czech). 2014-05-12. Retrieved 2025-09-24.
  33. ↑ "BBC News | UK | Grandmother at 26". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2026-08-05.
  34. ↑ "Identitate şi stereotipuri. Conturarea percepţiei despre romi în viziunea ziarului Jurnal de Chişinău" (PDF). Revista de Etnologie şi Culturologie. 8 (18). Institutul Patrimoniului Cultural: 138. 2015. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
  35. ↑ Lungu, Mia (2024-07-08). "Cea mai tânără bunică din lume este o româncă de 23 de ani. Șefa CNAS: "Avem fetițe care la 14 ani au doi copii"" (in Romanian). Antena 3 CNN. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  36. ↑ "Magazine Monitor: Paper Monitor". BBC. 2011-03-07. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  37. ↑ "Romanian woman who became a granny at 23 claims to be world's youngest". New York Daily News. 2011-03-07. Archived from the original on 2026-08-21. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  38. ↑ "Youngest great-great-great-grandmother". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  39. ↑ "Youngest great-great-great-great grandmother". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2026-08-21.
  40. ↑ "SITUATION ANALYSIS OF ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY in Thailand: Synthesis Report 2015" (PDF). UNICEF. Retrieved 2026-04-11.
  41. ↑ "Declines in Births to Females Aged 10–14 in the United States, 2000–2016". CDC. April 2018. Retrieved 2026-04-11.
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