First things first. I have returned (last episode) from the hiatus, which was in effect starting in late September of last year. When I sat down and started working again, I could not believe it had been that long! At the time, I thought some life stuff was going to change short-term, but as usual, something different happened. Anyway, it’s good to be back, and if you’re listening, you’ve stuck with me, and thank you for that.

And now it’s time for the perennial favorite top 10 list of the oldest people ever. Living to be 100 is still very rare, but according to a 2022 estimate by the United Nations, there are 593,000 centenarians around the world. A 2021 estimate by Boston University says there were .027% of us over the age of 100. As far as I can tell, this is the latest estimate that exists. It’s a fast-growing group. That number is twice what it was 20 years ago. How much of this really applies to us? I hope it applies to me, but I really don’t know. Right now, there’s no formula for living to 100. Just not enough data.

The people on this list are those for whom there is documented proof of their age. I’ll give you the whole list in countdown fashion, the changes since last year, and a little biographical info on a super-centenarian. Super-centenarians are people who have lived longer than 110 years, which includes everyone on this top 10 list.

Number 10 on the list of people with the highest verified age is newly-verified Delphia Welford of the United States. She replaced Misao Okawa by living to the age of 117 years, 66 days. Delphia died in 1992, but no one applied to have her age verified until 2016, and she was just verified in May of this year by the Gerontology Research Group. She’s one of two US citizens in the top ten.

Remaining at number nine is Chiyo Miyako, a Japanese lady who lived from 1901 to 2018, with a total age of 117 years and 81 days.

Emma Morano, the only Italian on the list, who lived from 1899 to 2017, 117 years and 137 days, is unchanged at number eight.
Still at number seven: Violet Brown from Jamaica, who lived from 1900 to 2017, 117 years, 189 days. That adds some geographical diversity to the list.

Number six, from Canada, is Marie-Louise Meilleur, who lived to the age of 117 years, 230 days, from 1880 to 1998.
Fifth on the list is Nabi Tajima, 2nd oldest Japanese person ever, 1900-2018, 117 years, 260 days.

Lucille Randon remains at number 4, the 2nd oldest Frenchwoman ever. In last year’s list, she was still living and moving up the ranks. Sadly, Lucille died on January 17 of this year. Born in 1904, she lived to be 118 years, 340 days.

American Sarah Knauss, who lived from 1880 to 1999, is moving down to third from second. She reached the age of 119 years, 97 days.

When we had our oldest people ever episode in January of last year, Kane Tanaka was the oldest living person in the world. She died on the 19th of April last year and made it all the way to number two. She lived 119 years, 107 days, from 1903 to 2022. She is one of only three people in the 119 club.

And the all-time oldest person is the same person it has been since 1988, Jeanne Calment of France. She lived from 1875 to 1997, 122 years, 164 days.

These are all women, of course. No man has made it in the top 10, at least not recently. The oldest man is Jiroemon Kimura, Japanese, and he lived to the age of 116 years 54 days. The oldest living man is now Juan Vicente Perez of Venezuela, who is 114 years 111 days. He’s currently still going strong and is already number 6 on the all-time longest-living men. This is his first year in the men’s top ten.

Whenever a new person joins the list, I do a more detailed biography. So you can look for past episodes in which I featured everyone on the list right now, except for newcomer Delphia Welford, the newest addition to the list. Stay tuned as she gets her own episode real soon. Check out the show notes at http://RunningAFEVER.com/326, where I provide links to all these old episodes featuring the longest-lived people.

Well, that’s the list. It is so inspiring to see that it’s possible to live to a very advanced age. And it gives us motivation as we look to achieve our goal of living long, happy, healthy, active lives.

Biographical episodes on individuals in the list:
1. Jeanne Calment http://RunningAFEVER.com/170
2. Kane Tanaka http://RunningAFEVER.com/212
3. Sarah Knauss http://RunningAFEVER.com/169
4. Lucille Randon http://RunningAFEVER.com/251
5. Nabi Tajima http://RunningAFEVER.com/168
6. Marie-Louise Meilleur http://RunningAFEVER.com/166
7. Violet Brown http://RunningAFEVER.com/165
8. Emma Morano http://RunningAFEVER.com/164
9. Chiyo Miyako http://RunningAFEVER.com/163

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/01/25/longevity-centenarians-healthy-living/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centenarian
https://www.bumc.bu.edu/centenarian/statistics/#:~:text=Out%20of%20a%20US%20population,years%2C%20the%20rate%20nearly%20doubled.

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Upsplash: https://unsplash.com/@giorgiotrovato?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash