This is a list of oldest people by nation. It includes the individual(s), for each given country, who are reported to have had the longest lifespan. Such records can only be determined to the extent that the given country's records are reliable. Comprehensive birth registration largely came into being in the 20th century; reliable records are therefore fragmentary. The earliest comprehensive recordkeeping systems arose in Europe, in countries such as Sweden and the Netherlands. England and Wales in the United Kingdom organised a central recordkeeping system in 1837 which was made compulsory by 1874.
This list comprises the longest-lived individuals, by country, but only to the extent that their lifespans have been reliably established. Records for both males and females are noted, where known. Similarly, those born in one country who emigrated to another are identified insofar as that information is available. If more than one individual is listed for a given country and gender, it is the result of disputed reports, alternative reports, or a lack of sufficient documentary evidence to make a clear determination. Nations are listed in alphabetical order. Some listed nations were once European colonies (i.e. French Algeria, Spanish Morocco) with the result that their record-keeping systems are more analogous to those of 20th-century Europe than to those of their geographic neighbours.
- For a global overview, see the table of national longevity recordholders and the separate lists of living national longevity recordholders and oldest people by U.S. state.
Read more about List Of Oldest People By Nation: Verified National Longevity Recordholders
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“Religious literature has eminent examples, and if we run over our private list of poets, critics, philanthropists and philosophers, we shall find them infected with this dropsy and elephantiasis, which we ought to have tapped.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
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—George Washington (1732–1799)