# Oldest verified living human

Tomiko Itooka born 23 mai 1908, is currently the oldest living human since Maria Branyas passed away on 19 August 2024.
The proven longevity record for both men and women is currently held by France's Jeanne Calment, who lived to the age of 122 years and 164 days. Among men, the record is held by Japan's Jirōemon Kimura, who lived to the age of 116 years and 54 days.

## Liste (before 1951)

List of known or presumed oldest living humans who died before 1951. However, this is an unofficial list, as the title of oldest human was not established until 1955.
| Date when becoming the oldest living human | Name | Date when becoming the oldest living human | Age at the time of death | Birth date | Death date | Duration of the tenure as oldest living person | Country of origin | Gender (M/F) |
| N/A | Eilif Philipsen | N/A | 102 years, 333 days | 21 July 1682 | 20 June 1785 | N/A | Norway | M |
| N/A | Cornelius Crich | N/A | 101 years, 150 days | 24 October 1687 | 23 March 1789 | N/A | United Kingdom | M |
| N/A | Ferdinand Ashmall | N/A | 103 years, 27 days | 9 January 1695 | 5 February 1798 | N/A | United Kingdom | M |
| N/A | Bartholomew Johnson | N/A | 103 years, 127 days | 3 October 1710 | 14 February 1814 | N/A | United Kingdom | M |
| 14 February 1814 | Johanna Perryman | 100 | 102 years, 95 days | 1 November 1713 | 4 February 1816 | 720 days | United Kingdom | F |
| N/A | Lorenzo Malori | N/A | 105 years, 201 days | 27 August 1724 | 16 March 1830 | N/A | Italy | M |
| 16 March 1830 | Marie-Louise Plante | 105 | 107 years, 96 days | 10 March 1725 | 14 June 1832 | 821 days | Canada | F |
| N/A | Pierre Darcourt | N/A | 108 years, 108 days | 23 January 1729 | 11 May 1837 | N/A | Belgium | M |
| N/A | Marie-Anne Lizotte | N/A | 108 years, 70 days | 25 December 1738 | 5 March 1847 | N/A | Canada | F |
| N/A | Willem van Renterghem | N/A | 105 years, 323 days | 6 December 1782 | 24 October 1888 | N/A | Belgium | M |
| 24 October 1888 | Marie D’Evergroote | 105 | 108 years, 148 days | 18 October 1783 | 24 March 1892 | 1247 days | [[Belgium| Belgium]] | F |
| 24 March 1892 | Lavina Hansdatter | 104 | 105 years, 253 days | 5 September 1787 | 16 May 1893 | 418 days | Norway | F |
| 16 May 1893 | Kirsti Skagen | 105 | 109 years, 200 days | 8 May 1788 | 24 November 1897 | 1653 days | Norway | F |
| 24 November 1897 | Geert Adriaans Boomgaard | 109 | 110 years, 135 days | 21 September 1788 | 3 February 1899 | 440 days | Netherlands | M |
| N/A | Margaret Ann Neve | N/A | 110 years, 321 days | 18 May 1792 | 4 April 1903 | N/A | United Kingdom | F |
| N/A | Salome Sellers | N/A | 108 years, 82 days | 19 October 1800 | 9 January 1909 | N/A | United States | F |
| N/A | Ann Pouder | N/A | 109 years, 68 days | 3 May 1808 | 10 July 1917 | N/A | United Kingdom United States | F |
| N/A | Sarah Gardiner | N/A | 106 years, 169 days | 9 July 1812 | 25 December 1918 | N/A | United States | F |
| 25 December 1918 | Louisa Thiers | 104 | 111 years, 138 days | 2 October 1814 | 17 February 1926 | 2611 days | United States | F |
| 17 February 1926 | Delina Filkins | 110 | 113 years, 214 days | 4 May 1815 | 4 December 1928 | 1021 days | United States | F |
| N/A | Katherine Plunket | N/A | 111 years, 327 days | 22 November 1820 | 14 October 1932 | N/A | Ireland | F |
| N/A | Rachel Swain | N/A | 108 years, 41 days | 1 September 1830 | 12 October 1938 | N/A | United Kingdom | F |
| 12 October 1938 | Mary Davey | 106 | 108 years, 91 days | 3 July 1832 | 2 October 1940 | 721 days | United Kingdom | F |
| 2 October 1940 | Anna Wheeler | 107 | 110 years, 289 days | 5 March 1833 | 19 December 1943 | 1173 days | United States | F |
| N/A | Elizabeth Sellwood | N/A | 107 years, 272 days | 21 June 1840 | 19 March 1948 | N/A | United Kingdom | F |
| 19 March 1948 | Lucy Woodman | 106 | 109 years, 360 days | 3 May 1841 | 28 April 1951 | 1135 days | United States | F |

## Liste (since 1951)

Since 1951, the successive oldest living humans whose identity has been verified are presented in the following list drawn up by the Gerontology Research Group.
| Date when becoming the oldest living human | Name | Age when becoming the oldest living person | Birth date | Death date | Age at the time of death / current age | Duration | Country of origin | Gender |
| 28 April 1951 | Nancy Merriman | 109 | 19 December 1841 | 14 January 1954 | 112 years, 26 days | 992 days | United States | F |
| 14 January 1954 | Betsy Baker | 111 | 20 August 1842 | 24 October 1955 | 113 years, 65 days | 648 days | United States  United Kingdom | F |
| 24 October 1955 | Jennie Howell | 110 | 11 February 1845 | 16 December 1956 | 111 years, 309 days | 418 days | United Kingdom  United States | F |
| 16 December 1956 | Mathias Hansen Saether | 108 | 21 October 1848 | 7 January 1957 | 108 years, 78 days | 22 days | Norway | M |
| 7 January 1957 | Catherine Waller | 108 | 1 December 1848 | 4 January 1959 | 110 years, 34 days | 727 days | United States | F |
| 4 January 1959 | Christina Karnebeek-Backs | 109 | 2 October 1849 | 7 October 1959 | | | | |
As the case of Shigechiyo Izumi, born on 29 June 1865 or in 1880 and died on 21 February 1986, is doubtful, he is not included in this list. Posthumous research has raised some doubts, not least because the document that was thought to be his own birth certificate may in fact have been that of his older brother, who died in infancy and whose name was reused as a necronym. Japanese specialists, preferring to remain anonymous, have suggested that he was in fact certainly born in 1880. If so, he would have died at 105 instead of 120.

## Means of identification

It is difficult to determine who is the oldest person currently alive. This is because most public bodies do not provide information on their constituents, including in the case of a search for the oldest living person, as this data is subject to statistical confidentiality. Furthermore, not all families are necessarily in favour of media coverage of their elders. In France, for example, INSEE agrees to provide researchers with its files on supercentenarians only for deceased people.
The search for a potential doyen of humanity is therefore an investigative task carried out by researchers or enthusiasts. They use the Internet and ‘Google alerts’, as well as the regional press, which regularly publishes articles on the birthdays of their elders.
When a person is considered to be potentially the oldest living human, they are proposed to the Guinness World Records organisation. The data is then studied and cross-checked against official documents before the title is awarded. In 1996, for example, the demographer Jean-Marie Robine and the director of the Ipsen foundation drew up a list of over 30 documents that enabled Jeanne Calment's age to be confirmed with certainty. This need to identify potential supercentenarians and then validate their age does not lead to a 100% reliable result. This is why, alongside the official oldest living human, there are contested oldest living humans, particularly in countries where there is no recognised ‘validator’.

## Comments on the notion of oldest living human

The notion of oldest living human is relative and not universal insofar as not all countries are equal when it comes to the concept of birth registration. History and tradition, not to mention the written obligation to administer civil records, are not established in all countries at the same time, or according to the same criteria. Cases of people having surpassed the ‘record’ held by Jeanne Calment have been reported, for example in Algeria (then under French rule), Bolivia (a member of an indigenous tribe) or India (then under British rule), but without formal proof due to the absence of civil status. A more recent example is Chile, where a woman is said to be 116 years old.
Similarly, Tava Colo, from Mayotte, the oldest French citizen until her death in 2021, has seen her title contested because she was born under colonial rule, at a time when civil status records were drawn up not by French territorial civil servants but by local Muslim judges (the qadis).

## Is there a limit to human life expectancy?

The question of the maximum longevity of human beings from a biological point of view is far from settled. For a long time, scientists were convinced that human longevity had an unsurpassable biological limit - around 120 years - no doubt genetically programmed into our species. This majority opinion had almost become a dogma, but like many certainties that were thought to be definitive in the life sciences, it has been seriously called into question in recent years, notably with the case of Jeanne Calment. In 2000, John Wilmoth of the University of California at Berkeley published a widely acclaimed article in the journal Science showing that the maximum age has been increasing for a century and a half, and has even risen rapidly over the last 30 years, and that there is nothing to suggest that it will level off, provided we maintain a healthy lifestyle. The idea of a biological limit to our lifespan is therefore without serious foundation,’ he believes.
However, two recent statistical studies show that there is a "glass ceiling", i.e. an age limit that is almost impossible to surpass, calculated at 115.7 years for women and 114.1 years for men. John Einmahl, one of the three scientists who carried out one of the studies, states: "On average, we are living longer, but the oldest among us have not become older over the last thirty years. There's no doubt we're up against a wall". Jeanne Calment, Kane Tanaka, Sarah Knauss and the twenty or so other people who have passed the age of 116 would then be exceptions. A scientific study published in 2016 by the journal Nature corroborates Jeanne Calment's exceptional longevity and adds that she will probably never be equalled.

## Statistics

With all the reservations expressed above, this series of data shows the following distribution of validated deans of humanity, for deaths occurring since 14 January 1954.
These groupings may reflect so many different realities (the causes of which need to be analysed according to the period and geographical area) that caution should be exercised when interpreting them.
* 1 2 3 "Pre1850sGallery.html, as of May 17, 2019". grg.org. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* 1 2 3 4 "Oldest validated centenarians". grg.org. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* ↑ "Alleged Danish Centenarians before 1800". demogr.mpg.de. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* ↑ "Eilif Philipsen". Gerontology Wiki. 2015. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
* 1 2 3 4 5 "Oldest People in Britain". oldestinbritain.nfshost.com. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* ↑ "The Oldest Old in Pre-Industrial Britain:Centenarians before 1800 - Fact or Fiction?". demogr.mpg.de. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* ↑ "News da Campora". camporacity.it. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* ↑ "Lorenzo Malori". Gerontology Wiki. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* ↑ "Marie-Louise Plante". Gerontology Wiki. 2015. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
* ↑ Mey, Noel De (zondag 11 januari 2009). "Historische weetjes: Ruddervoordenaar Guilielmus Van Renterghem (1782-1888)". Historische weetjes. Retrieved 2024-04-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help).
* ↑ "Validation of Exceptional Longevity - Centenarian Validation in Belgium". demogr.mpg.de. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* ↑ "Salome Sellers". Gerontology Wiki. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* ↑ "Ann Pouder". Gerontology Wiki. Retrieved 2024-05-01..
* ↑ Lindberg, Jimmy (2024-02-16). "Previously validated (but later disputed) supercentenarian claims". LongeviQuest. Retrieved 2024-05-01..
* ↑ "Oldest validated person by year of birth". Gerontology Wiki. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* ↑ "WOMAN DIES AGED 108". Singleton Argus. 1938-11-18. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
* ↑ "Rachel Swain". Gerontology Wiki. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* ↑ "BRITAIN'S OLDEST WOMAN". West Australian. 1940-10-05. Retrieved 2024-04-27.
* ↑ "Mary Davey". Gerontology Wiki. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* ↑ "Gossip from the Past". sites.rootsweb.com. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* ↑ "Anna Wheeler". Gerontology Wiki. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* ↑ "Elizabeth Sellwood". Gerontology Wiki. Retrieved 2024-04-27..
* ↑ "Lucy Woodman". Gerontology Wiki. Retrieved 2024-07-01..
* ↑ "World's oldest living person titleholders – Gerontology Research Group". Retrieved 2024-08-02..
* ↑ Comment sait-on qui est le doyen des Français ou de l’humanité?, Jean-Marie Pottier, slate.fr le 4 juillet 2016 Template:Consulté le.
* ↑ Transclusion error: {{En}} is only for use in File namespace. Use {{lang-en}} or {{in lang|en}} instead. Validation of Exceptional Longevity - Jeanne Calment: Validation of the Duration of Her Life Template:Consulté le.
* ↑ Template:Es « Anciana de 116 años recibió medalla » Traduction : Une femme de 116 ans se voit remettre une médaille, El Autral, 2 octobre 2010 Template:Consulté le.
* ↑ Article ([[Special:EditPage/{{{1}}}|edit]] | [[Talk:{{{1}}}|talk]] | [[Special:PageHistory/{{{1}}}|history]] | [[Special:ProtectPage/{{{1}}}|protect]] | [[Special:DeletePage/{{{1}}}|delete]] | [{{fullurl:Special:WhatLinksHere/{{{1}}}|limit=999}} links] | [{{fullurl:{{{1}}}|action=watch}} watch] | logs | views)
* ↑ Transclusion error: {{En}} is only for use in File namespace. Use {{lang-en}} or {{in lang|en}} instead. J. R. Wilmoth, L. J. Deegan, H. Lundström, S. Horiuch, Increase of maximum life-span in Sweden, 1861-1999, Science, 29 septembre 2000; 289(5488):2366-8.
* ↑ "Des chercheurs fixent les limites de la vie humaine entre 114 et 115 ans". francetvinfo.fr. 01 September 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2017. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help).
* ↑ "Human age limit claim sparks debate". nature.com. 5 October 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2016..
* ↑ "L'humanité pourrait ne jamais dépasser le record de 122 ans de Jeanne Calment". .lexpress.fr. 06 October 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2017. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help).
* ↑ "L'humanité pourrait ne jamais dépasser le record de 122 ans de Jeanne Calment". lexpress.fr. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016..