Oldest Living People in the World 2023

The world’s oldest people surpassed the average human lifespan and lived to exceptional ages. These people are frequently honoured for their longevity, and they are studied by scientists and medical professionals in order to acquire insights into the ageing process and the variables that contribute to longevity.

Gerontology is the study of the oldest living people. It looks at the physical, mental, and social changes that occur as people age. In this field of study, researchers explore common patterns and features among people who live extraordinarily long lives.

Let’s explore some of the oldest living people worldwide, their fascinating backstories, and their challenges.

1. Maria Branyas Morera

• Age (as of 5 April 2023): 116 years,31 days
• Date of Birth: 4 March 1907
• Nationality: Spanish
• Past Occupation(s): Nurse
• Gender: Female

Maria Branyas Morera is an American-Spanish supercentenarian acknowledged as the world’s oldest validated living person by Guinness World Records since the death of 118-year-old Lucile Randon of France on 17 January 2023.

While emigrating to Spain aboard the Catalania, Branyas Morera injured her eardrum in a fall, permanently losing hearing in one ear. In 1931, Branyas Morera married her husband, Joan Moret. The couple had three children. She had 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren as of August 2019.

In April 2020, at 113, Branyas Morera tested positive for COVID-19 but successfully recovered. She was the oldest recorded survivor of the disease until Lucile Randon, then 116, of France, recovered in 2021.

In spite of being just weeks away from her 116th birthday, Morera even uses Twitter – with a bit of help from her daughter – to communicate with her thousands of followers. “I am old, very old, but not an idiot,” her Twitter bio reads.

Morera had a long and eventful life, having lived through World War I and II, the Spanish Civil War, the rise and fall of Franco’s regime, and the transition to democracy in Spain. She also witnessed many technological and social changes, including the invention of the aeroplane, the television, and the internet.

In 2000, Branyas Morera moved into a nursing home in Olot at the age of 93. At age 110, she reportedly still read the newspaper daily. Morera was a symbol of resilience, strength, and wisdom and was widely respected and admired for her longevity and positive attitude.

2. Fusa Tatsumi

• Age (as of 5 April 2023): 115 years, 344 days
• Date of Birth: 25 April 1907
• Nationality: Japanese
• Past Occupation(s): Working in a family orchard
• Gender: Female

Fusa Tatsumi is a Japanese supercentenarian whose age is certified by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). Since Kane Tanaka died on 19 April 2022, she’s been the oldest certified living person in Japan and Asia. She is also the second-oldest person ever from Osaka Prefecture, after Misao Okawa.

Fusa Tatsumi was born Fusa Taniura on 25 April 1907, in Yao City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. She was the fifth of six children. After graduating from elementary school, she practised tea ceremonies, flower arrangements, and Okoto (a classical Japanese musical instrument) and obtained a diploma. At 32, she married Ryutaro Tatsumi, and they settled in Kashiwara City, Osaka Prefecture. Her eldest daughter was born in 1941, and her son was born in 1947.

Tatsumi worked in a family orchard (growing peaches, plums, and grapes) until her husband died when she was about 55. On her back, she would carry a basket of fruits harvested in her orchard. Her family has attributed her long life to this physical work.

As a hobby, Tatsumi enjoyed growing chrysanthemum flowers. However, in her 70s, she slipped after getting her clothes caught in her flowerbed, breaking her femur. She still has the bolt in her leg. She has never experienced any major illness or injury before her injury at that time. 

Tatsumi lived with her family until she was 107 years old. She is currently residing in Kashiwara, Osaka, Japan, in a nursing home. Her 110th birthday was celebrated with a little party in April 2017. The GRG validated her age on 13 August 2019.

3. Edie Ceccarelli

• Age (as of 5 April 2023): 115 years, 58 days
• Date of Birth: 5 February 1908
• Nationality: American
• Gender: Female

Edie Ceccarelli is an American supercentenarian and the country’s oldest known living person. Ceccarelli is also the third-oldest living person in the world, after Branyas Morera and Fusa Tatsumi, whose age has been certified by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).

Ceccarelli was born on 5 February 1908 in Willits, California, USA. Agostino and Maria Recagno, Italian immigrants, gave birth to her as the first of seven children. Elmer “Brick” Keenan married her, and they went to Santa Rosa, California, where he worked as a pressman for the Santa Rosa Democrat. They returned to Willits after he retired after 36 years. She married Charles Ceccarelli in 1986 after her husband died in 1984. He passed away in 1990.

Ceccarelli was asked several years ago what she did to be so vibrant at the age of 100. She recommended, “Drink a couple of fingers of red wine with your dinner – and keep your mouth shut.”

Perla Gonzalez, who operates the care home with her husband, Genaro, said Ceccarelli is doing exceptionally well for one of the world’s most senior citizens. ” She wakes up every day to brush her teeth and get ready,” Gonzales explained. Ceccarelli, she added, has always been a good eater, and her favourite meal is scrambled eggs with sliced strawberries and bananas. “She’s not very picky,” Gonzalez explained. “Whatever you put in front of her, she will eat.”

Until she moved into a senior living facility at the age of 107, Ceccarelli stayed in her home. In February 2018, she celebrated her 110th birthday and became a supercentenarian. Her cognitive abilities have decreased in recent years due to the symptoms of dementia, although she can still walk with the assistance of a walker. Ceccarelli is now living in Willits, California, in the United States.

Following Mila Mangold’s passing on 2 July 2022, Ceccarelli gained the title of the oldest living person in California. Following the passing of Bessie Hendricks on 3 January 2023, she gained the titles of second-oldest validated living American (behind Maria Branyas Morera), second-oldest certified person ever born in the U.S. state of California (behind Branyas Morera), and oldest validated person ever born in the country.

4. Tomiko Itooka

• Age (as of 5 April 2023): 114 years, 316 days
• Date of Birth: 23 May 1908
• Nationality: Japanese
• Past Occupation(s): Running a textile factory
• Gender: Female

Tomiko Itooka is a Japanese supercentenarian whose age is certified by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). She is presently the oldest known living person in Hyogo Prefecture and the second-oldest validated living person in Japan, after Fusa Tatsumi. 

On 23 May 1908, Tomiko Itooka, the second eldest daughter of three siblings, was born in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. She went to a girls’ school, currently Osaka Jogakuin Junior and Senior High School, and was a member of a volleyball club after she graduated from elementary school.

After completing her graduation from a girl’s school, she got married at the age of 20. She’d given birth to her first child when she was 21, and there were two sons and two daughters. She replaced her husband during the war, who ran a textile factory in South Korea, and she alone protected a Japanese office and raised her children. She was living alone in her husband’s native Nara Prefecture for about ten years following the death of her husband in 1979. During that period, she frequently enjoyed climbing Mt. Nijo, which straddles Nara and Osaka prefectures. She also twice climbed Mt. Ontake (elevation 3000m), which straddles Nagano and Gifu prefectures. The guide was surprised when she climbed the mountain because she wore ordinary sneakers instead of hiking shoes.

In her 80s, she also twice participated in the Osaka 33 Kannon Pilgrimage (33 temple pilgrimages). She climbed the long stone stairs of Ashiya Shrine at 100 years old without a cane and worshipped. In addition, she visited Yakushiji Temple in Nara Prefecture many times and liked to write sutras. Tomiko Itooka currently lives in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, at the age of 114 years, 316 days.

5. Inah Canabarro Lucas

• Age (as of 5 April 2023): 114 years, 300 days
• Date of Birth: 8 June 1908
• Nationality: Brazilian
• Past Occupation(s): Nun, teacher
• Gender: Female

Inah Canabarro Lucas, known as Sister Inah, is a Brazilian supercentenarian currently the oldest living person in Latin America and the most senior living nun in the world whose age is certified by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).

On 8 June 1908, Inah Canabarro Lucas was born in Sao Francisco de Assis, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and he said she would have been 27 May. She had been raised by her parents, Joao Antonio and Mariana Canabarro Lucas. She’d been so skinny as a kid, and many people didn’t expect her to live another seven years. She’s a granddaughter of General David Canabarro. Her father died in combat in 1923.

In Santana do Livramento, Rio Grande do Sul, Canabarro Lucas studied at the Santa Teresa de Jesus boarding school. Around 1928, she went to Montevideo, Uruguay, where she decided to become a nun. She went back to Brazil in 1930 to work as a math and Portuguese teacher at a school in the Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood of Tijuca. Then, in the early 1940s, she moved back to Santana do Livramento, where she worked as a teacher.

Canabarro Lucas is currently living in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, at 114 years, 327 days. She had to start using a walker when she was 110 years old since she started experiencing some mobility issues. She received her first dose of COVID-19 on 25 January 2021 at 112 years old, making her one of the most aged individuals to receive this vaccine. She’s thanking God for her longevity.

In October 2022, Canabarro Lucas contracted COVID-19 while she was hospitalized, but she later overcame the illness in November and is now among the oldest known survivors.

6. Hazel Plummer

• Age (as of 5 April 2023): 114 years, 289 days
• Date of Birth: 19 June 1908
• Nationality: American
• Past Occupation(s): Seamstress
• Gender: Female

Hazel Kathleen Plummer (born 19 June 1908) is an American supercentenarian, presently the oldest known person living in Massachusetts, United States. The Gerontology Research Group GRL confirms her age. One week after her 114th birthday on 26 June 2022, the GRG confirmed Plummer’s age.

Harry and Margaret (Allison) Downs delivered Hazel Kathleen Downs into the world on 19 June 1908 in Somerville, Massachusetts, the United States. Grace was her older sister, and Elmer and George were her older brothers. George died at the age of one in 1906, before Plummer was born. Plummer grew up a street apart from her future husband, Elmer – although they didn’t know it then. They’d marry in 1935 and have at least two children, Roger and David.

Plummer went to trade school after eighth grade to become a seamstress. Then, in Boston, Massachusetts, she went to work for an upscale designer on Newbury Street. She raised her children after she married while her husband was working at a steel factory and then in the department store’s kid’s section. After that, the whole family moved into Littleton, Massachusetts, where Plummer had been living since 1957.

After Plummer’s father unexpectedly passed away at the age of 74, her mother remained with the family for 22 years till passing away at 94. Plummer lived 17 years in her second-floor apartment after her husband passed away in January 2000 until moving to a nursing home in Littleton, Massachusetts, at the age of 109. Plummer had six grandkids and four great-grandchildren when she was 110 years old in June 2018.

When people wonder whether attitude or a healthy lifestyle is more important for a long life, they only need to meet Littleton resident Hazel Plummer to be convinced that it is the former. Plummer, who will turn 115 on (19 June 2023), said she prides herself on being positive. “I’ve always looked at life as whatever happens, happens,” Hazel said. “I’m not a worrier. I have never been.” “I had a good childhood,” she noted. “I’ve been a happy person all my life.” “I’ve been so fortunate all my life,” she said.

7. Nina Willis

• Age (as of 5 April 2023): 114 years, 80 days
• Date of Birth: 14 January 1909
• Nationality: American
• Past Occupation(s): Domestic and retail work
• Gender: Female

An American supercentenarian living in Georgia, Nina Willis is the oldest known person in the United States. Willis is presently the third-oldest certified living person in the U.S. (after Edie Ceccarelli and Hazel Plummer). Her age is validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).

On 14 January 1909, Nina Willis was born in Robinson, Georgia, United States of America and grew up working as a farmer in the city. Out of twenty kids, she’s the 13th. Her brother Bethuel Frazier (1902–2011), who was one of the oldest brother pairs ever recorded, lived to be 109 years old. She moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1947, doing domestic work and working at Kessler’s department store. She’d been married to Charles Willis, and they didn’t have any children.

At 114 years old and 107 days, Willis is currently living in a retirement home in Atlanta, Georgia. She loves sports and is an avid Atlanta Braves fan. She’s still watching baseball and basketball every time there’s a T.V. game, and she reads the paper every day when she wakes up. Her sister, Pecola Kirby, is her caretaker, with whom she is very close. “Nothing I wouldn’t do for her,” Pecola said. “She is my pride and joy, so I intend to care for her if she doesn’t outlive me.”

8. Ushi Makishi

• Age (as of 5 April 2023): 114 years, 48 days
• Date of Birth: 15 February 1909
• Nationality: Japanese
• Past Occupation(s): Worked at a spinning factory and a U.S. military base
• Gender: Female

Ushi Makishi is a Japanese supercentenarian whose age is validated by LongeviQuest (L.Q.) and the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). She is Japan’s third-oldest validated living person (after Fusa Tatsumi and Tomiko Itooka).

 On 15 February 1909, Ushi Makishi was born at Nakagamigun, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. She married Sozaburo Makishi when she was 18 years old. In 1929, at 20, she gave birth to her first child, and the couple had six children. From the age of 13 to the end of World War II, she worked in a spinning factory and was stationed at an American military base in Okinawa. When she was 96, she moved to a nursing home.

At the age of 113, Makishi occasionally enjoys an Okinawan hand dance called “Kakashi”. In addition, she loves a local Okinawan dish called “sushi”, which is rice cooked with pork. She also enjoys steamed sweet potatoes.

Makishi received a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the age of 112 on 6 August 2021 and became one of the oldest known people to receive this vaccine.

Ushi Makishi currently lives in Chatan, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, at the age of 114 years, 48 days. She is now the oldest known living person in Okinawa Prefecture.

9. Juan Vicente Perez Mora

• Age (as of 5 April 2023): 113 years, 312 days
• Date of Birth: 27 May 1909
• Nationality: Venezuela
• Past Occupation(s): Farmer
• Gender: Male

Since the death of Saturnino de la Fuente Garcia of Spain on 18 January 2022, Juan Vicente Perez Mora, a Venezuelan supercentenarian, has been certified as the oldest living individual in the world by the Guinness World Records. He’s the oldest verified person in Venezuela at the moment. Moreover, he’s the world’s 9th oldest living person whose age is confirmed by the GRG.

 On 27 May 1909, Juan Vicente Perez Mora was born at El Cobre, Tachira, Venezuela. Euquitia Perez and Edelmira Mora were his parents. His family moved into Caserio Caricuena, San Jose de Bolivar, in 1913, where they purchased their farm. There were eight brothers by the time he was four. Perez Mora had been working on the farm with his father and brothers when he was growing up.

He started to study when he was ten, but only for a month after his teacher got sick. Instead, he learned to read and write from a book that his teacher had given him. His brother, Miguel, lived in Los Paujiles, and Perez Mora started working for him. In that place, he met Ediofina Garcia and married her in 1938 at San Jose de Bolivar. They moved to Los Paujiles, Francisco de Miranda in Tachira after they got married, and their first son was born there. He had put enough money aside the next few years to buy a farm at Caserio Caricuena, where his other children were taken. They had six sons and five daughters.

The wife of Perez Mora died in the late 1990s. He became the first known male supercentenarian of Venezuela in May 2019 when he turned 110 years old. As of May 2020, six of his children were still alive, three sons (Ysabelino, Angel Edecio, and Andronico) and three daughters (Mary, Elena, and Nelida).

Pérez enjoyed a large celebration with many of his family members and friends. He says hard work, prayer and drinking a glass of aguardiente daily are the main reasons for his longevity and good health.

10. Elizabeth Francis

• Age (as of 5 April 2023): 113 years, 253 days
• Date of Birth: 25 July 1909
• Nationality: American
• Past Occupation(s): Coffee shop owner
• Gender: Female

 An American supercentenarian living in Texas, Elizabeth Francis is the oldest living individual in the United States. The Gerontology Research GroupGRG validated her age.

Francis and Bertha Johnson (1904–2011), one of the oldest sibling pairs, survived to be 106 years old. Francis has had three grandchildren, four great-grandkids, and two great Great Grandchildren since February 2021. Francis was the most recent living person in Texas after Maria De La Talamantes died on 21 June 2020.

Elizabeth Francis is now an incredible 113 years old. “The Lord has given me a blessing,” Francis said when asked about her secret to longevity. “When I get up and go to bed, I say ‘thank you’ to my Lord,” she said.

Francis gets proclamations from the city and state every year she reaches another milestone. As for what she eats to stay healthy, her response is “everything.” “No, I’m not on a diet,” she said. “I just eat what I feel like eating, what I know I like.”

Francis lives with her daughter, who is 92 years old. Her granddaughter, Ethel Harrison, keeps a watchful eye on them. Harrison said people don’t believe her when she tells people her grandmother’s age. “I think it was the food they ate for them,” Harrison says. “They cooked everything, and it was fresh. My grandmother owned a garden.”

Here is a list of the 50 oldest living people in the world according to the Gerontology Research Group (GRG)

Read More: Oldest People In The World (Top 100 People)