Why the world's oldest person is hardly ever a man and why women live longer
Do women live longer than men?
The short answer is yes, generally speaking, they do.
And we’ve seen evidence of that in monitoring the world’s oldest people.
The record for oldest person living has historically been held by women way more than men.
Ethel Caterham, the current oldest person living
In a bid to find out why, we spoke with experts at LongeviQuest, a global authority on human longevity and holders of a supercentenarian database who help us verify the identities of the oldest man and oldest woman.
In the last couple of decades, the title of oldest person living has changed hands many times.
But only one of those people was a man - Jiroemon Kimura from Japan.
He took the record in December 2012 when he was aged 115 years 242 days and kept it until his death on 12 June 2013.
The oldest man ever Jiroemon Kimura
He retains the title of oldest man ever after living until the age of 116 years 54 days.
Since Jiroemon, the oldest person living record has been held by:
- Misao Okawa (Japan) – b.5 March 1898 – d.1 April 2015
- Gertrude Weaver (USA) – b.4 July 1898 – d.6 April 2015
- Jeralean Talley (USA) – b.23 May 1899 – d.17 June 2015
- Emma Martina Luigia Morano (Italy) – b.29 November 1899 – d.15 April 2017
- Violet Brown (Jamaica) – b.10 March 1900 – d.15 September 2017
- Chiyo Miyako (Japan) – b.2 May 1901 – d.22 July 2018
- Kane Tanaka (Japan) – b.2 January 1903 – d.19 April 2022
- Lucile Randon (France) – b.11 February 1904 – d.17 January 2023
- María Branyas Morera (USA/Spain) – b.4 March 1907 – d.19 August 2024
- Tomiko Itooka (Japan) – b.23 May 1908 – d.29 December 2024
- Sister Inah Canabarro Lucas (Brazil) – b.8 June 1908 – d.30 April 2025
- Ethel Caterham (UK) – b.21 August 1909 – present
Ben Meyers, CEO of LongeviQuest, told us: “The first reason why the world’s oldest person is usually female is that far more women than men reach the age of 110. Approximately 90% of all verified supercentenarians are female.
“The current age difference between the world’s oldest woman Ethel Caterham (UK) and world’s oldest man João Marinho Neto (Brazil) – about 3 years and 1 month – is typical. Among the 100 oldest women ever, the median age is 115 years 114 days. For the 100 oldest men ever, it’s 112 years 115 days. This shows the present gap aligns with historical trends.”
He added: “In general, women live longer than men due to both biological and behavioural factors. The second X chromosome appears to provide a genetic advantage against certain diseases, while lower rates of risk-taking behaviour also contribute to increased life expectancy.
The current oldest man João Marinho Neto is years younger than the oldest woman
“Interestingly, the three-year gap between the oldest women and oldest men is actually smaller than the global difference in life expectancy between women and men, because supercentenarians of both sexes are extreme outliers.”
The oldest person ever was, unsurprisingly, a woman.
Jeanne Calment (France) lived until the unbelievable age of 122 years 164 days.
She lived from 21 February 1875 until 4 August 1997.
Her extra-long life was so unprecedented that she ended up living in her home for free for years thanks to a deal she made with a lawyer who thought he was getting a massive bargain but ended up losing out.