Who is the world’s oldest living person?

(KTXL) — Would you be surprised to learn that there are many supercentenarians, people who have reached the age of 110, living around the world?

According to Guinness World Records, the record for the longest living human being is a French woman named Jeanne Calment. She was born on February 21, 1875, about 14 years before the Eiffel Tower was built, and died on August 4, 1997, when she was 122 years old and she was 164 days old.

Until her death in February 2024, Edith “Edie” Ceccarelli was the oldest living person in America and, at 116 years old, considered the oldest Californian in history.

•Video above: America’s oldest California woman dies at 116

As of February 28, 2024, these are the five oldest recorded living people in the world, according to the Gerontology Research Group’s rankings.

5th place: Elizabeth Francis (Texas, 114 years old)

Born in Louisiana on July 25, 1909, Elizabeth Francis is currently the oldest living American at 114 years, 7 months, and 3 days. She is the last American born in her first decade of the 1900s.

She moved to Houston, Texas as a child where she was raised by her aunt.

Her younger sister, Bertha Johnson, lived to be 106 before her death in 2011, and Frances’ only daughter, Dorothy Williams, was 94, according to LongevyQuest, an organization that tracks human longevity. Francis currently shares a home with Williams in Houston.

At his 114th birthday celebration in July 2023, Francis was presented with a plaque honoring his status as the oldest living Texan.

4th place: Juan Vicente Perez Mora (Venezuela, 114 years old)

At 114 years and 277 days old, Venezuelan Juan Vicente Pérez Mora is the fourth-oldest living person, the second-oldest Latin American, and the world’s oldest living man.

According to LongeviQuest, Pérez Mora was born on May 27, 1909 in El Cobre, Tachira, Venezuela, and outlived his eight older brothers and one younger sister. He currently lives in San Jose de Bolivar, Tachira.

On his 110th birthday in May 2019, he became Valenzuela’s first recorded male supercentenarian. In June 2022, Perez became the last known living male born during the first decade of the 1900s.

On his 114th birthday, he was presented with a trophy honoring his status as the world’s oldest living man.

3rd place: Ina Canavarro Lucas (Brazil, 115)

Ina Canavarro Lucas is the oldest living person in Brazil and Latin America, and the third oldest person in the world at 115 years and 263 days old.

Born on June 8, 1908 in Sao Francisco do Asis, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Canavarro Lucas is the world’s oldest living nun. She earned that honor in January 2023.

She currently lives in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul.

According to LongeviQuest, she immigrated to Montevideo, Uruguay in 1928, where she became a nun, and returned to Brazil in 1930. Canavarro Lucas taught Portuguese and mathematics in the Rio de Janeiro area where she returned.

In January 2021, at the age of 112, she became one of the oldest people in the world to receive the coronavirus vaccine. She subsequently contracted the virus and was hospitalized in October 2022, but she was able to recover, making her one of the oldest known survivors of the disease.

2nd place: Tomiko Itooka (Japan, 115)

The oldest living person in Japan is Tomiko Itooka, who is 115 years and 263 days old.

According to LongveiQuest, Ms. Itooka was born on May 23, 1908 in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, as the second son and eldest daughter of three children.

After her husband passed away in 1979, Itooka climbed Mt. Nijo and Mt. Ontake twice.

She officially became Japan’s oldest living person in December 2023, and recently became the world’s second-oldest person after Ceccarelli’s death.

1st place: María Brañas Morera (Spain, 116 years old)

The world’s oldest recorded living person is Maria Blañas Morera, who was born in the United States and currently lives in Spain.

As of February 28, Blañas Morera is 116 years and 361 days old, and will officially become the world’s oldest living person in January 2023.

According to LongeviQuest, Blañas Morera was born in San Francisco on March 4, 1907, and his family moved to San Francisco in October 1906. She is the oldest person born in California, and she is also the oldest person ever confirmed to live in Spain.

Blañas Morera and his family traveled to New Orleans and then departed for Olot, Catalonia, Spain, in May 1915.

The supercentenarian still lives in Olot, Catalonia, where she has lived in a care home since she was 93 years old. As of August 2019, Blañas Morera has 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

In April 2020, Blañas Morera, then 113 years old, tested positive for the coronavirus. She made a successful recovery and became the oldest recorded virus survivor until 2021.