Maria Branyas, world’s oldest person, dies in Spain aged 117
Branyas was the 12th oldest verified person in history.
Maria Branyas, the world’s oldest person, passed away in Spain aged 117.
She died peacefully in a Spanish nursing home at the age of 117, according to her account on the X platform and a spokesperson at the home on Tuesday.
“Maria Branyas has left us. She has died as she wanted: in her sleep, peacefully and without pain,” her official X account said, and a spokesperson at the nursing home confirmed the news without offering any specifics.
According to Guinness World Records, she turned 117 on March 4 and became the world’s oldest person in January 2024.
Born in San Francisco, California, in 1907, she moved back to Catalonia with her Spanish family when she was seven.
She lived in Catalonia for the rest of her life, witnessing the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and surviving two pandemics a century apart: the 1918 Spanish flu and the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic.
In 1931, she married Catalan doctor Joan Moret, with whom she had three children.
Her husband died in 1976, and she also outlived her son August, who died in a tractor accident at the age of 86, as noted by Guinness World Records.
Branyas allowed scientists to study her remarkable longevity, which she attributed to luck, good genetics, and factors like “order, tranquillity, strong family and social connections, contact with nature, emotional stability, a positive outlook, and avoiding toxic people,” according to Guinness.
Branyas was the 12th oldest verified person in history as she turned 117.
The oldest person ever in the world was Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who lived to the age of 122 years and 164 days.
