The world’s oldest living person, recognized by Guinness World Records, died in Spain on August 20 at the age of 117. Maria Branyas Morera, the world’s oldest person, died peacefully during the day at a nursing home in Spain, Reuters reported on August 20.
Maria Branyas has left us. She died as she wanted: in her sleep, peacefully and without pain,” the statement said. A spokesperson for the elderly woman also confirmed the news.
A day earlier, Branyas said she felt weak. “The time is coming. Don’t cry, I don’t like tears. “You know me, wherever I go, I’ll be happy,” she announced. According to Reuters, the account is managed by Branyas’ daughter.
Branyas turns 117 on March 4, according to Guinness World Records. She will become the world’s oldest living person in January 2023.
Branyas was born in San Francisco a year after her family emigrated from Spain to the United States. Eight years later, the family returned to Spain, but her father died on the transatlantic journey from tuberculosis. Branyas lost hearing in one ear permanently after a fall.
Her family lived in Barcelona during World War I. For more than 20 years, she has lived in a nursing home.
She has lived through two world wars, a civil war in Spain, and two global pandemics: the 1918 Spanish flu and the 2010 pandemic. Covid-19. She contracted Covid-19 in May 2020, becoming one of the oldest people to survive the disease.’
In history, only 11 people have been confirmed to have lived longer than Branyas. The oldest was Jeanne Clament (France), who lived 122 years and 164 days, and died in 1997.
Branyas has allowed scientists to study her extraordinary longevity. According to her, it is thanks to luck, good genes, and a peaceful, orderly lifestyle, good connections with family and friends, harmony with nature, emotional stability, no anxiety, no regrets, positivity and staying away from negative people.