The main goal of most married couples is to have a child. Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) advise having time to give birth to a child before the age of 49 – during reproductive age there is the highest chance of having a healthy child. But the older the father or mother, the greater the likelihood of miscarriage or the birth of a child with defects. However, on the Internet you can find amazing stories about how even very elderly people sometimes become happy parents. For example, this is the Indian Ramjit Raghava – he conceived his first child at the age of 94 years. And two years later, a second boy was born into his family. In many media he is called the oldest father in the world, but is this really so?
Ramjit Raghava is the oldest dad in the world. Photo source: International Business Times India
World's oldest father
Ramjit Raghava is a resident of the Indian state of Haryana, who was born back in 1916. He met his first wife when he was 24 years old, but the couple had no children, and he quickly became a widower. He lived alone for more than two decades before starting a new family with a woman named Shakuntala Devi.
In 2010, when Ramjeet Raghava and his wife were 94 and 50 years old, their first child was born. The boy was named Vikramjeet, and despite the age of his parents, he turned out to be completely healthy. Thus, an Indian man became the oldest father in the world who was able to conceive a healthy child.
Ramjit Raghava with his child. Photo source: zycie.news
In 2012, when Ramjit Raghava was 96 years old, a second son, Ranjita, appeared in the family. After his birth, the family announced that they no longer wanted to have children due to money problems. Although, if they wanted, they could certainly conceive and give birth to another healthy child.
The news about the oldest father in the world quickly spread across all world publications. He was interviewed, and he said that his secret was a vegetarian lifestyle – he ate only plant foods and did not eat meat. Representatives of the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) really liked this, and they used the image of an Indian in their advertising campaigns.
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Loss of a child in the family
At first everything went great, the family was known throughout the world. But in 2023, a tragedy occurred that destroyed the elderly family.
One day, Shakuntala Devi took her first child to the hospital for an examination. Everything went well, but on the way back she fell asleep at a stop with the child in her arms, and he was kidnapped. No one could find the boy; the elderly mother became severely depressed, which led to serious problems in relationships. Ultimately, she left her husband, taking her second child with her.
Ramjit Raghava with his wife and children. Photo source: unbelievable-facts.com
After this, Ramjeet Raghava's life was short-lived. In 2020, he died at the age of 104 during a fire in his house.
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Why You can’t give birth at an old age
The fact that a man was able to conceive a healthy child at such an old age seems like a miracle. Some people believe that in fact he was lying and the children were not his own. There is also an assumption that Ramjit Raghava exaggerated his age. Indeed, when his first son was born, he claimed to be over 100 years old. But government authorities announced that he was 94 years old.
Be that as it may, becoming a father even at 94 years old is a very rare and, one might say, impossible phenomenon. With age, men are unable to conceive a child due to a decline in the quality of sperm: their number decreases, and their activity drops significantly. Also, mutations appear in the genetic material, which can lead to the development of pathologies in the child. On top of all this, older men experience erection problems.
Video with the oldest father in the world
Women also decrease their chances of birth of healthy offspring. Their number of eggs decreases, and errors also accumulate in their genetic information. Already from the age of 35, the risk of complications during childbirth increases, so it is recommended to give birth to children at the age of 20–30.
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Whether Ramjit Raghava was the oldest father in the world is not clear. On our website there is an article about the long-lived Shirali Muslimov – they say that he became a father at 137 years old. In general, he had a very interesting fate, which is definitely worthy of your attention. Be sure to read our material and you will learn a lot of new things!