# Longevity claims

Longevity claims are unsubstantiated cases of asserted human longevity. Those asserting lifespans of 110 years or more are referred to as supercentenarians. Many have either no official verification or are backed only by partial evidence. Cases where longevity has been fully verified, according to modern standards of longevity research, are reflected in an established list of supercentenarians based on the work of organizations such as the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) or Guinness World Records. This article lists living claims greater than that of the oldest living person whose age has been independently verified, Brazilian woman Inah Canabarro Lucas, aged 116 years, 274 days, and deceased claims greater than that of the oldest person ever whose age has been verified, French woman Jeanne Calment, who died aged 122 years and 164 days. The upper limit for both lists is 130 years.

## Scientific status

Prior to the 19th century, there was insufficient evidence either to demonstrate or to refute centenarian longevity. Even today, no fixed theoretical limit to human longevity is apparent. Studies in the biodemography of human longevity indicate a late-life mortality deceleration law: that death rates level off at advanced ages to a late-life mortality plateau. This implies that there is no fixed upper limit to human longevity, or fixed maximum human lifespan. Researchers in Denmark have found a way to determine when a deceased person was born using radiocarbon dating done on the lens of the eye.

## Categorization

Guinness World Records from its inception in 1955, began maintaining a list of the verified oldest people. It developed into a list of all supercentenarians whose lifespan had been verified by at least three documents, in a standardized process, according to the norms of modern longevity research. Many unverified cases ("claims" or "traditions") have been controverted by reliable sources. Taking reliable demographic data into account, these unverified cases vary widely in their plausibility.

## Fully verified claims

* The oldest person verified by modern standards, and the only person with evidence to have lived to be at least 120 years of age, is French woman Jeanne Calment (21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997), aged 122 years and 164 days.
* The oldest man verified by modern standards, and the only man with undisputed evidence to have lived to be over 115, is Japanese man Jiroemon Kimura (19 April 1897 – 12 June 2013), aged 116 years and 54 days.
* The oldest verified living person is Brazilian woman Inah Canabarro Lucas, born 8 June 1908, aged 116 years, 274 days.
* The oldest verified living man is Brazilian man João Marinho Neto, born 5 October 1912, aged 112 years, 155 days.

## Problems in documenting

In numerous editions from the 1960s through the 1980s, Guinness stated that
   No single subject is more obscured by vanity, deceit, falsehood, and deliberate fraud than the extremes of human longevity.
This caveat notwithstanding, Guinness at the same time listed a Canadian named Pierre Joubert as the oldest person to have ever lived, with supposedly "irrefutable" documentary proof showing he had been born in 1701 and died in 1814 – it was later discovered that a father born in 1701 and his son born in 1732 had been conflated, and Joubert has been removed from lists of supercentenarians.
In another case, Lucy Hannah, previously regarded as having reached age 117, had her verification removed in 2020 following the discovery of additional documents.
Despite demographic evidence of the known extremes of modern longevity, stories in otherwise reliable sources still surface regularly, stating that these extremes have been exceeded. Responsible, modern, scientific validation of human longevity requires investigation of records following an individual from birth to the present (or to death); purported longevity claims far outside the demonstrated records regularly fail such scrutiny.
Actuary Walter G. Bowerman stated that ill-founded longevity assertions originate mainly in remote, underdeveloped regions, among non-literate peoples, with only family testimony available as evidence. This means that people living in areas of the world with historically more comprehensive resources for record-keeping have tended to hold more claims to longevity, regardless of whether or not individuals in other parts of the world have lived longer.
In the transitional period of record-keeping, records tend to exist for the wealthy and upper-middle classes, but are often spotty and nonexistent for the middle classes and the poor. In the United States, birth registration did not begin in Mississippi until 1912 and was not universal until 1933. Hence, in many longevity cases, no actual birth record exists. This type of case is classified by gerontologists as "partially validated".

### Proximate records

Since some cases were recorded in a census or in other reliable sources, obtainable evidence may complete full verification.
* Maggie Barnes: Barnes claimed to be 117 at her death on 19 January 1998. Barnes, who was born to a former slave and married a tenant farmer, had fifteen children, 11 of whom preceded her in death. Inconsistent records suggested that she was born on 6 March 1882 at the latest, but possibly a year earlier. The conclusion is that Barnes was at least 115 years and 319 days old at her death, and may have been one or two years older.

### Late-life records

In another type of case, the only records that exist are late-life documents. Because age inflation often occurs in adulthood (to avoid military service or to apply for a pension early), or because the government may have begun record-keeping during an individual's lifetime, some cases are unverified by proximate records. These unverified cases are less likely to be true (because the records are written later), but are still possible. Longevity narratives were not subjected to rigorous scrutiny until the work of William Thoms in 1873. Thoms proposed the 100th-birthday test: is there evidence to support an individual's claimed age at what would be their centenary birthday? This test does not prove a person's age, but does winnow out typical pension-claim longevity exaggerations and spontaneous claims that a certain relative is over 150.
* Hanna Barysevich: Barysevich claimed to have been 118. This can be neither verified nor disproven from Belarusian records. The claim is demographically possible but incompletely verified.
* Pasikhat Dzhukalaeva: In 2004, The Moscow Times reported that Dzhukalayeva, of Chechnya, claimed to have been born in 1881 (age 122). The claim is possible but incompletely verified. Her death has not been reported since that time, so no age greater than 122 has been verifiably claimed.
* Susie Brunson: Ebony magazine reported in 1973 that she was in good health at 102 years old, the first major claim of her longevity. She is later mentioned in 1975, when various newspapers claimed that she was celebrating her 105th birthday. An article in the Spokesman-Review claims Brunson received a call from President Ronald Reagan on her 113th birthday in 1983 (and many other papers claim that Brunson's birthday was attended by New York Congressman Raymond J McGrath, dubbing her the oldest person in the nation), and other articles written about her longevity appear later on. Her obituaries appear in Star-News newspaper and The New York Times. Her family claimed that she was born 25 December 1870 and lived to age 123, dying in late November 1994.

## Reports with complete date of birth

These are standardized lists of people whose lifespans remain unverified by proximate records, including both modern (Guinness-era) and historical cases. All cases in which an individual's supercentenarian lifespan is not (yet) backed by records sufficient to the standards of modern longevity research are listed as unverified. They may be factually true, even though records do not exist (or have not yet been found), so such lists include these grey-area cases.

### Recent

These living supercentenarian cases, in descending order of claimed age, with full birth and review dates, have been updated within the past two years, but have not had their claimed age validated by an independent body such as the Gerontology Research Group or Guinness World Records. The list includes only those claims that are greater than the age of the oldest verified living person, Inah Canabarro Lucas, who is currently aged 116 years, 274 days, but under 130 years.
| Name | Sex | Reported birth date | Claimed age | Country | Latest report |
| Sivananda | M | 8 August 1896 | 128 years, 213 days | India | 11 August 2024 |
| Manuel Garcia Hernandez | M | 24 December 1896 | 128 years, 75 days | Mexico | 2 February 2024 |
| Mercedes Chami Dogirama | F | 13 March 1898 | 126 years, 361 days | Panama | 10 August 2023 |
| Ayşe Bayri | F | 1 July 1898 | 126 years, 251 days | Turkey | 21 June 2024 |
| Marcelino Abad Tolentino | M | 5 April 1900 | 124 years, 338 days | Peru | 6 April 2024 |
| Sebastião Batista dos Santos | M | 15 March 1902 | 122 years, 359 days | Brazil | 15 March 2024 |
| Hussein Al-Missaoui | M | 17 May 1904 | 120 years, 296 days | Tunisia | 5 June 2023 |
| Maria Vikentyevna Kononovich | F | 27 May 1904 | 120 years, 286 days | Belarus | 28 January 2025 |
| Maria Luisa | F | 3 February 1905 | 120 years, 34 days | Mozambique | 6 September 2023 |
| Margaret Maritz | F | 27 September 1906 | 118 years, 163 days | South Africa | 2 October 2024 |
| Jose Flores Flores | M | 11 July 1907 | 117 years, 241 days | Costa Rica | 12 July 2024 |

### Past

This table contains supercentenarian claims with either a known death date or no confirmation for more than two years that they were still alive. Only claims greater than that of Jeanne Calment, who died at the age of 122 years, 164 days, but under 130 years are included. They are listed in order of age as of the date of death or date last reported alive.
| Name | Sex | Reported birth date | Death date / latest report date | Reported age | Country |
| Ali Ben Mohamed El Amri | M | 5 October 1880 | fl. 30 September 2010 | 129 years, 360 days | Tunisia |
| Koku Istambulova | F | 1 June 1889 | 27 January 2019 | 129 years, 240 days | Russia |
| José Aguinelo dos Santos | M | 7 July 1888 | 20 December 2017 | 129 years, 166 days | Brazil |
| Maria do Carmo Gerônimo | F | 5 March 1871 | 14 June 2000 | 129 years, 101 days | Brazil |
| Jean Causeur | M | 3 March 1645 | 30 April 1774 | 129 years, 58 days | France |
| Mary Ewen | F | 5 May 1878 | 10 April 2007 | 128 years, 340 days | Jamaica |
| Cruz Hernández | F | 3 May 1878 | 8 March 2007 | 128 years, 309 days | El Salvador |
| Johanna Mazibuko | F | 11 May 1894 | 3 March 2023 | 128 years, 296 days | South Africa |
| Ese Gebelek | F | 1 July 1894 | 28 March 2023 | 128 years, 270 days | Turkey |
| Elizabeth Israel | F | 27 January 1875 | 14 October 2003 | 128 years, 260 days | Dominica |
| Safiah Ujang | F | 11 February 1889 | 26 October 2017 | 128 years, 257 days | Malaysia |
| Nana Shaova | F | 15 July 1890? | 21 January 2019 | 128 years, 190 days | Russia |
| José Rosario Serrano Arencas | M | 5 March 1881 | 24 April 2009 | 128 years, 50 days | Colombia |
| Swami Kalyandev | M | 21 June 1876 | 14 July 2004 | 128 years, 23 days | India |
| William Johnson | M | 8 May 1881 | 15 May 2009 | 128 years, 7 days | United States |
| José Paulino Gomes | M | 4 August 1895 | 28 July 2023 | 127 years, 358 days | Brazil |
| Ajiben Chandravadia | F | 1 January 1891 | 13 December 2018 | 127 years, 346 days | India |
| Luo Meizhen | F | 9 July 1885 | 9 June 2013 | 127 years, 335 days | Qing Dynasty, China |
| Juana Bautista de la Candelaria Rodríguez | F | 2 February 1885 | 24 December 2012 | 127 years, 326 days | Cuba |
| Luang Pu Chant Siri | M | 10 April 1849 | 23 February 1977 | 127 years, 319 days | Thailand |
| Bénicia Souffrant Laguerre | F | 17 January 1893 | 1 November 2020 | 127 years, 289 days | Haiti |
| Halim Solmaz | F | 1 July 1884 | 29 March 2012 | 127 years, 272 days | Turkey |
| Tshinyelo Dora Muzila | F | 4 May 1880 | 14 January 2008 | 127 years, 255 days | South Africa |
| Leandra Becerra Lumbreras | F | 31 August 1887 | 19 March 2015 | 127 years, 200 days | Mexico |
| Tian Longyu 田龙玉 | F | 9 June 1893 | 28 September 2020 | 127 years, 111 days | Qing Dynasty, China |
| Francoise Pascal | F | 5 January 1895 | fl. 6 January 2022 | 127 years, 1 day | Haiti |
| Eida Karmi | F | 1 January 1890? | fl. 19 December 2016 | 126 years, 353 days | Syria Greece |
| Goli Papi | F | 5 April 1893? | 10 December 2018 | 125 years, 249 days | Iran |
| Nicolas Savin | M | 17 April 1768 | 29 November 1894 | 126 years, 226 days | Russia |
| Maria Gonçalves dos Santos | F | 24 June 1890 | 15 December 2016 | 126 years, 174 days | Brazil |
| Benito Martínez Abrogán | M | 19 June 1880 | 11 October 2006 | 126 years, 114 days | Cuba |
| Margarita Lacsi | F | 30 March 1878 | 27 May 2004 | 126 years, 58 days | Argentina |
| Jackson Pollard | M | 25 December 1869 | 7 September 1995 | 125 years, 304 days | United States |
| Nuri Öztunç | M | 1 July 1885 | 6 March 2011 | 125 years, 248 days | Turkey |
| Juan Ramos | M | 24 June 1880 | 24 January 2006 | 125 years, 214 days | United States |
| Aberewa Grace | F | 16 August 1878 | 18 January 2004 | 125 years, 155 days | Ghana |
| Masoumeh Sanei Toroghi | F | 23 September 1898 | 6 February 2024 | 125 years, 136 days | Iraq |
| Anna Visser | F | 25 December 1878 | 8 January 2004 | 125 years, 14 days | Namibia |
| Lü Zimei 吕紫梅 | F | 8 August 1888 | fl. 4 July 2013 | 124 years, 330 days | Qing Dynasty, China United States |
| Maria Etelvina dos Santos | F | 15 July 1878 | 8 March 2003 | 124 years, 236 days | Brazil |
| Hu Yeh-mei | F | 10 February 1885 | 24 August 2009 | 124 years, 195 days | Taiwan |
| Mariam Amash | F | 1 July 1888 | 22 December 2012 | 124 years, 174 days | Israel |
| Socorro Medrano Guevara | F | 17 June 1894 | 13 September 2018 | 124 years, 88 days | Mexico |
| Francisca Susano | F | 11 September 1897 | 22 November 2021 | 124 years, 72 days | Philippines |
| Armando Frid | M | 24 May 1866 | 28 July 1990 | 124 years, 65 days | Argentina |
| Maria Verissimo de Matos | F | 5 June 1888 | 17 June 2012 | 124 years, 12 days | Brazil |
| Sher Ali Mia | M | 17 July 1894 | fl. 10 July 2018 | 123 years, 358 days | Bangladesh |
| Ana Martinha da Silva | F | 25 August 1880 | 27 July 2004 | 123 years, 337 days | Brazil |
| Carmelo Flores Laura | M | 16 July 1890 | 9 June 2014 | 123 years, 328 days | Bolivia |
| Deolinda Soares Rodrigues | F | 24 June 1898 | 1 May 2022 | 123 years, 311 days | Brazil |
| Juana Chox Yac | F | 29 November 1893 | 27 September 2017 | 123 years, 302 days | Guatemala |
| Arthur Reed | M | 28 June 1860 | 15 April 1984 | 123 years, 292 days | United States |
| Tanzilya Bisembeyeva | F | 14 March 1896 | 25 October 2019 | 123 years, 225 days. | Russia |
| Daw Mya Kyi | F | 9 October 1892 | fl. 17 May 2016 | 123 years, 221 days | Myanmar |
| Hava Rexha | F | 14 August 1880 | 8 November 2003 | 123 years, 86 days | Albania |
| Appaz Iliev | M | 1 March 1896 | 10 May 2019 | 123 years, 70 days | Russia |
| Nguyễn Thị Trù | F | 4 May 1893 | 12 July 2016 | 123 years, 69 days | Vietnam |
| Li Fengfang | M | 5 August 1878 | 8 October 2001 | 123 years, 64 days | Qing Dynasty, China United States |
| Turupu Aimaiti 图如普·艾麦提 | M | 5 February 1892 | fl. 26 February 2015 | 123 years, 21 days | Qing Dynasty, China |
| Live Larsdatter | F | 6 August 1575 | 9 July 1698 | 122 years, 337 days | Denmark |
| Shukhrat Aliyeva | F | 1 January 1887 | 1 December 2009 | 122 years, 334 days | Brazil |
| Oberia Coffin | F | 1 December 1883 | 18 October 2006 | 122 years, 321 days | United States |
| Sudhakar Chaturvedi | M | 20 April 1897 | 27 February 2020 | 122 years, 313 days | India |
| Nehemiah Ndur | M | 25 February 1890 | 10 December 2012 | 122 years, 289 days | Nigeria |
| Dora Jacobs | F | 6 May 1880 | 19 January 2003 | 122 years, 258 days | South Africa |
| Mamie Evans | F | 2 July 1872 | 15 January 1995 | 122 years, 197 days | United States |
| Lin Shemu 林蛇母 | F | 18 June 1902 | 1 January 2025 | 122 years, 197 days | Qing Dynasty, China |
| David Peterson | M | 22 November 1850 | 31 May 1973 | 122 years, 190 days | United States |
| Sarah Hoover | F | 25 June 1874 | 15 December 1996 | 122 years, 173 days | United States |
| Salma Abdulqadir | F | 1 July 1897 | 18 December 2019 | 122 years, 170 days | Syria |