Maria Branyas Morera, the world's oldest living person at the age of 117, was born on March 4, 1907, in San Francisco, USA. However, at the age of eight, she returned to Spain with her family and settled in Catalonia, where she has lived ever since. For the past 23 years, she has resided in the same nursing home.
In January 2023, Maria became the oldest person on Earth following the passing of 118-year-old Lucile Randon from France. Maria, who currently holds the title, is appreciative of the congratulations and interest in her health. According to Eva Carrera Boix, the director of Maria's nursing home, Maria is content to celebrate her special day intimately with family and colleagues and extends wishes for a happy Monday to all.
Despite experiencing some hearing and mobility challenges, Maria enjoys good physical and mental health. She has agreed to undergo scientific testing to contribute insights into the secrets of long life. Maria, the world's oldest person in the digital age, is active on X (Twitter), where her bio humourously states, "I'm old, very old, but not an idiot."
Maria attributes her longevity to a combination of "luck and good genetics."
Communicating with Maria involves using a voice-to-text device due to her poor hearing, a condition she developed after a childhood accident during the family's voyage from America to Spain in 1915. The journey was also marked by misfortune, as Maria's father succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis.
Maria has lived through significant historical events, including the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 and the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). Despite challenging memories of the latter, she maintains a positive outlook on life. Maria married Catalan doctor Joan Moret in 1931, and they had three children. Her husband passed away in 1976, and she outlived her only son, August, who died at the age of 86.
Surviving COVID-19 at the age of 113 in 2020, Maria made a full recovery within days, becoming the world's oldest COVID-19 survivor at that time. Currently, she holds the title of the 12th oldest verified person in history. Should she reach her 118th birthday, she will ascend to the 5th place, with the oldest authenticated person being Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who lived to the remarkable age of 122 years and 164 days.
via guinnessworldrecords