Oldest People

This is a list of tables of the verified oldest people in the world in ordinal rank, such as oldest person or oldest man. In these tables, a supercentenarian is considered 'verified' if his or her claim has been validated by an international body that specifically deals in longevity research, such as the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) or Guinness World Records.

The longest unambiguously documented human lifespan is that of Jeanne Calment of France (1875–1997), who died at age 122 years, 164 days. She met Vincent van Gogh at age 12 or 13. This led to news media attention in 1985, after Calment turned 110. Subsequent investigation found documentation for Calment's age, beyond any reasonable question, in the records of her native city, Arles, France.

More evidence of Calment's lifespan has been produced than for any other supercentenarian; her case serves as an archetype in the methodology for verifying the ages of the world's oldest people. The oldest undisputed lifespan for a male supercentenarian is that of Christian Mortensen, who lived for 115 years and 252 days.

Since the death of 115-year old Dina Manfredini of the United States, on 17 December 2012, the oldest living person in the world whose age can be documented is 115-year-old Jiroemon Kimura, of Japan, born 19 April 1897. He is also the oldest living man since the death of 114-year old Walter Breuning on 14 April 2011. Since Manfredini's death, the oldest living woman is 114-year-old Koto Okubo, also from Japan, born on 24 December 1897.