Mariam Nabatanzi

Mariam Nabatanzi Babirye (born ), also known as Maama Uganda or Mother Uganda, is a Ugandan woman known for birthing 44 children, 38 of whom are still alive. As of March 2025, her eldest children were 33 years old, and the youngest were eight years old.

Born around 1980, Babirye first gave birth when she was 13 years old, having been forced into marriage the year before. By the age of 36, she had given birth to a total of 44 children, including three sets of quadruplets, four sets of triplets, and six sets of twins, for a total of fifteen births. The number of multiple births was caused by a rare genetic condition causing hyperovulation as a result of enlarged ovaries. In 2019, when Babirye was aged 40, she underwent a medical procedure to prevent any further pregnancies.

Life and background According to Babirye, her mother abandoned her family and five brothers three days following her birth. When Babirye was seven years old and was away visiting a relative, her stepmother mixed cut glass into the food of her older siblings as a result of which all of them died. Her father-in-law gave her family a piece of land to support themselves, and at the age of 13, she gave birth to twins, before giving birth to triplets two years later, and then a set of quadruplets a year and a half later. but not before leaving her pregnant with twins; he later on sold off the homestead where Babirye and her children were living. She and her children were hosted by her grandmother, but when her grandmother died, her relatives allowed her to remain in the homestead to house her children. As of April 2023, she still owes a balance on that homestead before she can assume full ownership.

Babirye's household lives in a complex composed of five cement-block houses with corrugated iron roofs; the complex has seventeen rooms, fifteen of which are bedrooms and two are empty living and dining rooms. Nine of the bedrooms are without any beds, and the other six bedrooms have a total of eight bunk beds, four of which are not in usable condition. The other four beds accommodate a total of twenty-four children on mattresses.

Plans According to The Uganda Times, Babirye hopes to get UGX 5 million (about US$1,400) to pay off the remaining balance on her family's living complex to her grandmother's relatives to take full ownership.

She also hopes to acquire new iron sheets to replace the leaking roofs, twenty-five new bunk beds, and sixty-six new mattresses, so that each person has their own bed. Additionally, she plans to acquire some land for cultivating food and rearing animals with her family workforce, and to achieve financial security for her dependents, as well as starting a restaurant, a bridal salon, and an events management service to employ her children.