The world’s oldest living person, Spanish pensioner Maria Branyas Morera, who was born in the United States and survived a plague epidemic and two world wars, has died at the age of 117, her family has revealed.
‘Maria Branyas has left us. She died as she wished: in her sleep, peacefully and without pain,’ her family wrote on her account on X. ‘We will always remember her for her advice and her kindness,’ they said.
Branyas lived her last two decades in the Santa Maria del Tura nursing home in the town of Olot in northeastern Spain, and celebrated her 117th birthday there back in March.
Experts had marveled at her mental and physical health, but in a heartbreaking final message to her social media followers on Tuesday, she warned that she felt ‘weak’.
‘The time is near. Don’t cry, I don’t like tears. And above all, don’t suffer for me,’ she said on the account, which is run by her family. ‘Wherever I go, I will be happy.’
Maria Branyas Morera, who was the oldest person in the world, celebrating her 117th birthday in March
Branyas was born in San Francisco in 1907. Pictured: Branyas in 1925 when she was just 18
Branyas became the world’s oldest person following the death of French nun Lucile Randon in January 2023
When she was 113, Ms Branyas tested positive for Covid-19 during the global pandemic, but avoided developing severe symptoms
Guinness World Records had officially acknowledged Branyas’s status as the world’s oldest person in January 2023 following the death of French nun Lucile Randon aged 118.
In the wake of Branyas’s death, the oldest living person in the world is Japan‘s Tomiko Itooka, who was born on May 23, 1908 and is 116 years old, according to the US Gerontology Research Group, which validates details of people thought to be 110 or older.
The title of the oldest person to have ever lived belongs to Jeanne Louise Calment whose life spanned 122 years and 164 days, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Branyas was born in San Francisco in 1907 while the city was suffering from a second wave of the Bubonic plague.
Her family took the decision to return to Spain in 1915 during the First World War after her father Josep fell ill.
He ended up dying of tuberculosis on the ship they were crossing the Atlantic on, with his now-centenarian daughter injuring herself in a fall during the same voyage and later discovering she had lost her hearing in one ear.
She went on to survive two world wars, the Spanish flu pandemic, the Spanish Civil War, and most recently Covid-19.
She married Catalan doctor Joan Moret aged 23 in 1931. Her husband died more than 46 years ago when he was 71.
Ms Morera married Catalan doctor Joan Moret aged 23 in 1931
Ms Morera when she was 87 in 1994 playing the piano
She wrote on his anniversary that she will ‘always carry him in my heart every day’
She had three children, 11 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, attributes her old age to ‘order, tranquility’ and ‘staying away from toxic people’.
She has prioritised living a stress-free existence and lived in sheltered housing in the Catalan town of Olot since she was 92.
She played the piano, read newspapers and exercised every morning until she was 105.
Unusually for her age, Ms Morera was an active user of social media site X, formerly Twitter, and regularly gave her more than 16,000 followers updates on her health and wellbeing.
Branyas became the oldest person ever to recover from Covid in May 2020 – but that record was broken by Sister André later that year
Her X account is called ‘Super Catalan Grandma’ and bears the description: ‘I am old, very old, but not an idiot.’
Branyas suvived a health scare when she tested positive for Covid-19 just weeks after her 113th birthday during the global pandemic in 2020.
Thankfully, she avoided developing the severe symptoms that claimed the lives of millions, and recovered within days.
It made her the world’s oldest Covid-19 survivor at the time – but that record was broken by Sister André later that year.
Branyas’ nursing home told the Guinness Book of World Records at the time that they would be hosting a ‘small celebration behind closed doors’ to commemorate the achievement.
In December 2022, Branyas shared tips on diet and hailed the health benefits of one particular food to her army of followers.
She wrote on X: ‘And a piece of advice, if you’ll allow me. In an age when diets and miracle foods for well-being and health are constantly emerging, it is necessary to rescue yoghurt, a lifelong food with an infinite number of positive properties for the body.’
Pictured here with her mother in 1922 when she was 15
Yoghurt is a good source of calcium and protein, which is good for bone and muscle health, according to the NHS. But there isn’t any evidence that eating yoghurt will help you live longer.
Branyas celebrated her 117th birthday in March with a cake, and posted to mark the occasion: ‘Good morning, world. Today I turn 117 years old. I’ve come this far.’
Late in her life, Branyas agreed to undergo testing by scientists who hoped to learn more about the secrets to a long life.
They collected samples of her saliva, blood and urine to compare with her daughter, who is in her eighties, in the hope that they might help with developing drugs to fight age-associated diseases.
Scientist Manel Esteller told Spanish news outlet ABC at the time: ‘She has a completely lucid head.
Pictured celebrating her 115th birthday
‘She remembers with impressive clarity events from when she was only four years old, and she does not present any cardiovascular disease, common in elderly people.
‘It is clear that there is a genetic component because there are several members of her family who are over 90 years old.’
In the days before her death, Branyas’ family said she told them: ‘I don’t know when, but very soon this long journey will come to an end.
‘Death will find me worn down from having lived so much, but I want to meet it with a smile, feeling free and satisfied.’