The World’s Biggest Family and Me

Great documentary caught tonight on the DMAX channel – The World’s Biggest Family and Me. Originally a Channel 4 documentary, presenter Mark Dolan (twitter)  sets off on a global quest to learn the truth about families with ten or more children. What dictates the choices of some people to have large families and how do they operate?

Mark travels to Canada to meet the Ionces. They are Romanian immigrants and have 18 children, a record for North America. They are also Christian fundamentalists. The mother, Livia, has been pregnant for 17 of the last 23 years.

Mark continues his journey by heading to the United Arab Emirates, where he meets polygamist Daad Mohammed. Now in his 60s, he’s had 17 wives and 84 children, and has a target of 100.

In Spain, Mark meets Jose Maria Postigo and his wife, Rosa. They have 15 children, but another two died from a congenital heart defect. Six of the surviving children also suffer from this problem, forcing Mark to question the ethics of continuing to have children in the face of this illness.

watch clip on Youtube.