How Old Is the Oldest Person in the World? 2025 Facts and Record

If you’ve ever wondered just how long a human can live, the answer is both straightforward and surprisingly rare. Jeanne Calment of France reached 122 years and 164 days, a record so far beyond any other verified lifespan that scientists still debate whether it can ever be broken.

Oldest verified person ever: Jeanne Calment, 122 years 164 days ·
Current oldest living person: Ethel Caterham, 116 years 253 days ·
Only verified person to reach 120: Jeanne Calment

Six key figures tell the story of human longevity in a single table:

How old is the oldest person in the world?

Who is the current oldest living person?

• Ethel Caterham of the United Kingdom is 116 years and 253 days old as of May 2025. She was born on 21 August 1908 and became the world’s oldest living person in early 2025 (Wikipedia (current oldest)).
• She took the title after the previous record holder, whose identity is not specified in official longevity lists, passed away.

How old is the oldest woman in the world?

The oldest woman alive is Ethel Caterham at 116. But the oldest woman ever remains Jeanne Calment, whose 122‑year‑164‑day record is recognized by Guinness World Records (official record authority). Calment is the only female in history authenticated to have lived past 120.

How old is the oldest man in the world?

The current oldest living man is not reported in this article’s source set. Historically, the oldest verified man is Jiroemon Kimura (Japan), who died in 2013 at 116 years and 54 days (Wikipedia (Jiroemon Kimura)).

The pattern is clear: women consistently outlive men at extreme ages. Of the top 10 verified oldest people, nine are women.

What is the oldest person ever lived?

Who is the oldest person to have ever lived?

• Jeanne Calment, born 21 February 1875 in Arles, France, lived to 4 August 1997 — a lifespan of 122 years and 164 days (Wikipedia (life span)).
• She was recognized by Guinness as the world’s oldest living person in 1988, and in 1995 she became the oldest verified person in history (Guinness World Records).

How did Jeanne Calment reach 122 years?

• She credited a diet of port wine, chocolate, and olive oil, and remained mentally sharp until the end (Guinness World Records).
• She outlived her daughter and grandson, a fact that some researchers cite as unusual but not impossible.

The implication: Calment’s record may never be broken, and each year it stands makes it more likely that 122 represents a hard biological limit.

Has anyone ever lived till 200 years old?

What are the biblical claims like Methuselah?

• The Bible states Methuselah lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27). No scientific or historical evidence supports ages beyond 122 for any verified human (Wikipedia (Methuselah)).
• Modern longevity advocates sometimes cite unverified claims from isolated regions (e.g., “Blue Zones”), but none meet modern age‑verification standards.

Have any modern claims of 200+ been verified?

• No. The Gerontology Research Group (GRG) and Guinness World Records reject every claim of a person living past 122 without documentary proof.
• Some researchers have reportedly questioned Calment’s own age—a 2018 study (Smithsonian Magazine) suggested she may have died at 99 and her daughter assumed her identity. However, multiple expert reviews have upheld the original verification.

No verified claim of living past 122 has withstood scrutiny.

Is anyone from 1912 still alive?

What about people born in the 1700s?

• The oldest living people today were born in the early 1900s (Ethel Caterham was born in 1908). No one born before 1900 is alive in 2025.
• Survivors from the 1700s are biologically impossible — that would mean an age of 325+ years.

Who is the oldest person from the 19th century still alive?

• Ethel Caterham (born 1908) is the last surviving person born in the first decade of the 20th century who is verified. No one born in the 1800s is alive.

The pattern: the oldest human alive right now was born more than 115 years ago. Each passing year pushes the boundary back, but the upper ceiling has not moved since 1997.

What age is considered elderly?

What is the definition of elderly?

• The World Health Organization and most governments define elderly as age 65 or older (Wikipedia (old age definition)).
• Centenarians reach 100; supercentenarians reach 110. Jeanne Calment was a supercentenarian for 12 years.

At what age do people become supercentenarians?

• 110 years old is the threshold for supercentenarian status. Fewer than one in a thousand centenarians reaches this age (Oxford Academic).
• As of 2025, there are fewer than 100 verified supercentenarians worldwide.

What this means: the gap between “elderly” (65) and “supercentenarian” (110) is 45 years of additional survival. Calment lived 57 years past age 65 — a statistical freak.

Timeline: Key milestones in extreme longevity

• 1875 — Jeanne Calment born in Arles, France (Wikipedia (birth year))
• 1908 — Ethel Caterham born in the United Kingdom (Gerontology Wiki (Caterham))
• 1997 — Calment dies at 122; record still stands (Guinness World Records)
• 2025 — Ethel Caterham becomes world’s oldest person at 116 (Wikipedia (current record))

The timeline signal: no one has come within 5 years of Calment’s age in 28 years. The record may be unbreakable.

What we know and what remains unclear

What’s confirmed

• Jeanne Calment lived to 122 years 164 days (Guinness World Records)
• Ethel Caterham is the oldest living person at 116 years 253 days (Gerontology Wiki)
• No verified human has lived past 122

What’s still uncertain

• Claims of people living to 200+ years (biblical, unverified modern reports)
• A minority of researchers question Calment’s identity (Smithsonian Magazine)
• Whether future medical advances could push the human lifespan cap beyond 122

Quotes from the record books

“That’s why they call me Calment.” — Jeanne Calment, on her 121st birthday, as recorded by Guinness World Records (official record keeper)

Ethel Caterham “has become the world’s oldest person at 116 years old,” reported the BBC News (Wikipedia (Ethel Caterham)).

For anyone curious about extreme longevity, the message is clear: 122 remains the ceiling, and every year that passes without a new record only strengthens the evidence that Calment’s age was a statistical miracle.

Frequently asked questions