The world’s oldest person, Maria Branyas Morera, has passed away at the age of 117, her family announced on social media.
The Guinness World Records (GWR) also confirmed in a statement that she died at the age of 117 years and 168 days, making her the eighth verified oldest person in recorded history.
The GWR statement read: “Maria died peacefully in a nursing home in Catalonia, Spain, where she had lived for the past two decades.”
Maria Branyas Morera.
On Tuesday, August 20th, the Morera family posted on X to announce her passing. The post read: “She followed the path she wanted: in her sleep, peacefully and without pain.”
The family added that Morera told them just before her death: “I don’t know when, but this long journey will soon come to an end. Death will exhaust me because I have lived so much, but I want it to see me smiling, free, and satisfied.”
Morera was recognized by GWR as the world’s oldest living person in January 2023 after the death of French nun André at the age of 118.
She told GWR that her longevity was due to “order, peace, a good connection with family and friends, contact with nature, stable emotions, no worries, no regrets, a lot of positivity, and staying away from toxic people.”
“I think longevity is also due to luck. Luck and good genetics,” she added.
Born on March 4, 1907, she came into the world less than four years after the Wright brothers made their first powered flight and two years before the construction of the ill-fated Titanic began.
Morera was born a year after her parents emigrated from Spain to the United States. Eight years later, the family moved back to Barcelona during World War I.
Her life also spanned the Spanish Civil War and World War II. She spent her later decades in a nursing home in Catalonia, where, despite her advanced age, Morera engaged with thousands of followers on X—with a little help from her daughter.
According to the Gerontology Research Group, a non-profit scientific organization that verifies the ages of people aged 110 and older, the current oldest living person is a 116-year-old Japanese woman named Tomiko Itooka.
The title for the oldest person ever recorded belongs to Jeanne Louise Calment. Born on February 21, 1875, she lived for 122 years and 164 days, according to GWR.
