«There cannot be too many
people on Earth»

Lesen Sie die deutsche Version hier.

Jonathan Jacob Meijer, you are the biological father of over 500 children. How did you grow up yourself?

I come from a very traditional, religious family; we were eight children at home. I also grew up in a church with other larger families, so I always knew the joy of family. I saw that for some people, it was difficult to have children. There were people in church who couldn’t conceive, and I noticed, at a very young age, how painful this can be.

 

That’s why you became a sperm donor?

It was in college that I was first confronted with sperm donations. A study friend of mine told me that he discovered to be infertile. I felt bad because he was a very kind person who was in a great relationship with his girlfriend. It made me think about being a donor.

 

And then?

I went to a clinic and registered there. Later I discovered that there are websites where you can register and can help privately. The demand at that time in the Netherlands was high, because the government no longer allowed to donate anonymously. For me, this was not a problem, because I didn’t want to donate anonymously anyway. I never helped anybody anonymously.

 

How many of your children know that you are their genetic father?

About 95 percent are aware; some are still babies and don’t know yet. Anonymous sperm donation is not good for the children, not for the parents, and not for the donor. At least there should be the possibility to get some contact.

«Anonymous sperm donation is not good for the children,
not for the parents, and not for the donor.»

 

It started with a few donations, I suppose. But how did you end up being the biological father of so many children?

That went quite quickly. I was not prepared for the enormous demand. Once you put out the advertisement on the website, you get instant reactions. I expected maybe two or three requests a year – but it was about ten a day! I wasn’t really planning on a certain number, I just wanted to help people.

 

The Netflix miniseries about you is called «The Man with 1000 Kids». What is the exact number?

550 is the number that I can be 100 percent sure about. Around 100 children were conceived through six Dutch clinics I’ve donated to, the rest – that’s 450 – are from worldwide private donations. Numbers beyond that are just speculation.

 

According to Swiss law, a donor may only make his sperm available to one location. Also, he cannot be paid. A donor’s sperm may be used to produce a maximum of eight children. If you were living in Switzerland, it would be eight children and not 550.

There’s a larger amount allowed in different countries. I’ve also helped in Switzerland, but fewer than eight families. These rules are extremely strict and outdated; they’re based mostly on anonymous donations. That’s why the current system always runs into shortages of donors.

 

Did you ever get paid as a sperm donor?

No, I never asked for any money for donations because I think you shouldn’t help create a new life to make money. That would be immoral to me. People pay me the travel expenses, a hotel if needed, the medical and genetic checks. Some people will give me an extra fee because they want to show their appreciation. But I do not demand it. These laws are okay: If you make it paid, you can attract the wrong kind of people.

«I never asked for any money for donations because I think you shouldn’t help create a new life to make money.»

 

Some recipients of your sperm criticize you for not being transparent about the extent of your donations. What mistakes did you make?

The mistake I made was that I didn’t always follow my gut feeling about whom I helped. There are people in that documentary that I had a bad gut feeling about, but I was maybe too forgiving towards them. Eventually, it turned out that my gut feeling was right, that my first impression of them was not positive. That’s what I regret: I was too accommodating with whom I sometimes helped. And it’s showing now.

«The mistake I made was that I didn’t always follow my gut feeling about whom I helped.»

 

Where are your critics wrong?

First, they’re wrong that 550 is an extremely exceptional number for a donor. The guidelines in the United States for example set a maximum of 25 children per 800 000 inhabitants. If you would have that rule in the Netherlands, you could have around 530 children per donor. That’s why they went to the Netherlands to make that TV series. They couldn’t make it in the US, because it’s totally normal there to have thousands of children per donor. The second mistake is that they portray me like the worst donor. But actually, I am one of the best, because I take full responsibility to be open. Many people that order from the international clinics probably also have children with hundreds of half-siblings. But if you ask the clinics, they will say: «We will not share that data with you.» While people seem to be okay with that, they accuse me of not sharing information correctly. But they do know I’m not exclusive and have donated more. They can assume I will donate more. Basically, they got the best service with me. I didn’t charge money. And I was directly available in person. A personal meeting gives you way more information than some sentences and facts to read.

 

Are you still donating sperm today?

I started donating with 26 and I’m still donating, but only for existing families. Since 2019, I do not donate to new recipients anymore.

 

What do you do in your life in general? Your YouTube videos give the impression that you are on some endless holiday.

When I’m in a location, I make about 20 videos, so I have enough material to upload for months; I make some money with YouTube. At the moment I work on a family property in the Netherlands; we are renewing nature on a piece of land of ours. I’m taking care of replanting and regrowing this property; my goal is to make it more accessible.

 

What’s your ideological worldview? You seem to be a mix of a conservative type mixed with a hippie worldview …

Maybe you get this hippie impression because I focus on living closer to nature, more like traditional people. For example, in the Swiss Alps, there were people living self-sufficiently with some goats and cows – they have the cheese, the milk, the meat. That’s my ideal of the world: people living modestly, close to nature and in a small, extended family tribe. The way it always was.

 

And where do you stand politically?

I don’t have any real political side. I base my beliefs on God, nature and ancestors. My belief is based upon a mix of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Catholicism and Pre-Christian ancestral and natural worship. I believe God created the place we live in as a temporary place to work on our souls and prove ourselves and overcome ourselves. Our mission is to take care of ourselves, our family and nature. We have to create new life and focus on maintaining ourselves.

 

Is your sperm different from other sperm? Did you undergo genetic analysis?

I’m from a family with no fertility problems and no known genetic diseases. As they did an analysis of my sperm, they found it in good quality and it was able to survive the freezing process – that’s why I decided to become a donor. All of my children are in good health. There’s one child with Down syndrome and one with a growth issue – both are related to a genetic marker on the mother’s side.

 

Sperm quality is declining. What’s the reason for that?

I think it’s related to nutrition. People eat way too much, and they prefer grain-based and plant-based diets. Most of the time, they eat very little wild-caught meat and fish. I’ve been on a sort of carnivore diet for 15 years now. Another reason is the environment: There’s way too much synthetic materials around us. The third reason is alcohol: I’ve noticed that myself when I was drinking a lot of alcohol for three months. When I was tested for sperm count afterwards, it was 50 percent lower than usual.

 

Should there be more human beings on Earth or fewer?

There cannot be too many people because there are so many animals that we can eat. In a unrestricted natural environment, everybody would have four or five children at least. You can see this with primitive tribes. The Massai are a good example; they don’t do agriculture. But we do way too much of it. It’s okay to have some fruit trees, but the amount of grain that is being grown is really insane. As we’re all living in cities, we are depending on food chains. And that’s mostly plant-based, grain-based.

«There cannot be too many people because there are so many animals that we can eat.»

 

Niger is the country with the highest fertility rate in the world, with about six children per woman. It is also the poorest country. Isn’t having fewer children a sign of progress?

I don’t care about progress, because I see progress as something bad. It destroys culture and humans, it brings war, pollution and stress. Progress is a disease.

 

But you benefit very much from progress. You don’t live in Niger in a small hut, you live in the Netherlands in a nice flat. You also use electricity and Bitcoin, for example. Progress gives you many things you like in life.

No, I feel very unhappy in civilization, I am forced to do all these things. If I hunt a rabbit in the Netherlands, they throw me into prison. I’m looking for a remote place in Germany or France, where the soil is cheap and where I can build a simple wooden cabin and have some animals. But it’s not easy to do that. We all have been brainwashed into believing to need electricity, a shaving machine, a deodorant. You need all these things that you basically don’t need. I think you have to leave that gradually. You have to get out of civilization.

«I feel very unhappy in civilization.»

 

But you could move to Niger or to Indonesia, buy a big lot there, live like you want.

No, because I respect culture. I would disrupt their culture if I came with my money or whatever knowledge. I would be a competition to the people living there. It’s easy to go to Indonesia and feel like a king there – but that’s not really good. I think that I should stay in the area where my ancestors came from: Germany, Netherlands, France, or Denmark maybe – that’s where I feel at home.

 

Europe has some demographic problems. It’s getting older and the birth rate is declining. It seems the politicians want to solve its demographic problems with immigration. Is this a good idea?

The immigrants come to work, but they don’t feel at home at their workplace. Nothing against immigrants themselves. They come here, because their home countries are also civilized now. They also have to work to exist because they need money to exist.

 

Do you have kids in a classic marriage?

I don’t have that now, that was the reason why I stopped helping new recipients in 2019 – I was so consumed with helping as a donor that I forgot my own needs in life. My ideal is to marry one woman and take care of her and the children. Having a big family is natural, that’s good and healthy.