Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: Who is the oldest living person in the world?
As of 15 September 2019, the oldest known living person is Kane Tanaka of Japan, aged 116years, 256days. The oldest known living man is Gustav Gerneth of Germany, aged 113years, 335days. Due to differences in life expectancy, the 100 oldest women have lived significantly longer than the 100 oldest men.
Ana María Vela Rubio (29 October 1901 – 15 December 2017), aged 116 years and 47 days, was a Spanish supercentenarian who became the oldest verified Spaniard ever on 6 June 2016, when she surpassed the record of María Antonia Castro who died in 1996, aged 114 years, 220 days and was also the oldest Spanish-born person from 4 April 2017 when she surpassed the record of Emiliano Mercado del Toro. At the time of her death she was the third-oldest living person in the world, behind Nabi Tajima and Chiyo Miyako. She became the oldest living European upon the death of former world's oldest person Emma Morano on 15 April 2017. She remains the third oldest person ever from Europe behind Jeanne Calment and Emma Morano.
Cooper became Georgia's oldest resident on January 19, 2009, following the death of 113-year-old Beatrice Farve. On January 31, 2011, Eunice Sanborn died, and Cooper became the oldest living person in the United States. She was thought to be the world's oldest living individual until May 18, 2011, when Brazil's Maria Gomes Valentim was verified as older. On June 21, 2011, Maria Gomes Valentim died, and Cooper became the world's oldest living person. Cooper reportedly attributed her longevity to "minding her own business" and avoiding junk food.
She was the oldest verified person living in Europe since the death of 114-year-old Italian Virginia Dighero 28 December 2005, and became the fifth oldest verified living person in the world on the death of 115-year-old American Susie Gibson on 16 February 2006. Madame Loiseau was succeeded as doyenne of France by Marie-Simone Capony, aged 112 at the time, though the title was first given to fellow 112-year-old Marie Mornet Robin who lived in the western town of Poitou-Charentes, but was three weeks younger than Capony. She and Japanese supercentenarian Toyo Endo were recognised by Guinness World Records as the oldest people to share a birthday.
Marie-Josephine Clarice Gaudette (25 March 1902 – 13 July 2017) was the oldest living person in Italy from the death of Emma Morano, who was the oldest living person in the world and the oldest Italian person ever on 15 April 2017 until her own death three months later. Gaudette was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, United States, and was the oldest living person born in the US from the death of Susannah Mushatt Jones on 12 May 2016 and the oldest emigrant from the US ever.
Elizabeth Bolden was verified in April 2005 as being the oldest documented resident of the United States since the death of Emma Verona Johnston the previous December. Prior to this, Bettie Wilson, had been the oldest known American. After the death of Hendrikje van Andel on August 30, 2005, she was thought to be the world's oldest living person until December 9, 2005, when María Capovilla was authenticated as older. She became the oldest living person following Capovilla's death on August 27, 2006. This was officially confirmed on September 17, 2006 by Guinness World Records. 
 became the world's oldest living woman after the death of Mae Harrington on 29 December 2002, and the world's oldest living person after the death of Japanese man Yukichi Chuganji on 28 September 2003. On 31 October 2003, after Kamato Hongo's death, Kawate was recognized as the oldest living person in the world, though in fact, Kawate became the oldest living person in the world on 28 September 2003, because Kamato Hongo's record was revoked in 2012.
Emiliano Mercado del Toro (August 21, 1891 – January 24, 2007) was a Puerto Rican supercentenarian and military veteran who was, at age 115, the world's oldest person for six weeks, and the world's oldest man from November 19, 2004 (death of Fred H. Hale, Sr.) until his own death on January 24, 2007. Mercado became the oldest documented living person on December 11, 2006, following the death of 116-year-old Elizabeth Bolden.
Kyōtango was home to Jiroemon Kimura who was born in the city in 1897. He was the world's oldest living man since April 2011, the oldest living person in Japan since December 2011 and as of December 17, 2012, was the world's oldest verified living person. Kimura lived in Kyōtango his entire life and was said to have recollections of the 1927 earthquake. He spoke of his memories of surviving the earthquake on his 114th birthday. On December 28, 2012, Kimura became the oldest verified man in history, but he died on June 12, 2013.
Other people who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Kyōtango include:Due to Japan’s declining birthrate, the number of children is decreasing, and many schools in Kyōtango have been merged or closed. When Kyōtango was established in 2004, there were thirty-one elementary schools in the city, but as of February 2018 that number had decreased to nineteen.
Marie-Louise Fébronie Meilleur (née Chassé; August 29, 1880 – April 16, 1998) was a French Canadian supercentenarian. Meilleur is the oldest validated Canadian ever and upon the death of longevity world record holder Jeanne Calment, became the world's oldest recognized living person. She was succeeded as the oldest living person by Sarah Knauss.
Habib Miyan born as Rahim Khan (1869 (claimed) – 19 August 2008), of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India, was an Indian man who claimed to have lived to 138 years of age, though this claim is disputed. He holds the Guinness World record for the Longest retirement pension, although they did not recognise his claim to be the world's oldest person and the Gerontology Research Group accepted Edna Parker to be the world's oldest person at the time, at 115 years old. The Limca Book of Records lists him as the oldest man of Jaipur. His age is certified as "over 120 years" in the Limca book's 2005 edition, but without a birth certificate the Guinness Book of World Records was unable to verify his claimed longevity.
The oldest European ever, and the world's oldest person, was Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who lived 122 years, 164 days. The oldest European man ever was Christian Mortensen from Denmark, who emigrated to the United States where he died at the age of 115 years, 252 days. The oldest non-emigrant European man was Spaniard Joan Riudavets Moll, who lived 114 years and 81 days.
Jeralean Talley (née Kurtz; May 23, 1899 – June 17, 2015) was an American supercentenarian who was, at the age of 116 years, 25 days, the world's verified oldest living person. She was previously thought to be the oldest living American, from the death of Elsie Thompson on March 21, 2013 until Gertrude Weaver was verified to be older in July 2014. Upon Weaver's death on April 6, 2015, Talley was recognized as the oldest living person in the world. Talley received letters from U.S. President Barack Obama on her 114th and 116th birthdays acknowledging her status.
Lucy Hannah (née Terrell; July 16, 1875 (August 12, 1895?) – March 21, 1993) was an African American supercentenarian or nonagenerian. Hannah was the second-oldest person from the United States and the world's fourth-oldest verified person, after Jeanne Calment, Sarah Knauss and Nabi Tajima. She was also supposedly the oldest person never to have held the title of the world's oldest living person, since Jeanne Calment, who was supposedly about five months older, was still alive at the time of Hannah's death.
If Mary Ramsey Wood had lived to be 120, as claimed, she would have been the world's oldest person at that time, and would be the oldest American on record even today. That distinction, however, according to "Guinness World Records", belongs to Sarah Knauss, who died at age 119.
Kimura became the oldest living man in Japan upon the death of Tomoji Tanabe on 19 June 2009, the world's oldest living man upon the death of Walter Breuning on 15 April 2011, the oldest living person in Japan upon the death of Chiyono Hasegawa on 2 December 2011, and the world's oldest living person upon the death of Dina Manfredini on 17 December 2012, until his own death. With Breuning's death, he was also the last living man born in the 1890s. He and Breuning were also the only verified men born in the 1800s who lived into the 2010s.
This table lists the sequence of the world's oldest known living person from 1955 to present, according to GRG research. Due to the life expectancy difference between sexes, nearly all the oldest living people have been women; a sequence of the oldest living men is provided below the main list.
Breuning died peacefully in his sleep of natural causes in a Great Falls hospital at 3:30 pm local time on April 14, 2011. He had been hospitalized since the beginning of the month with an undisclosed illness. At the time of his death, he was the third-oldest living person in the world, and the oldest male. After his death, Jiroemon Kimura took over as the world's oldest man, and he would later become the oldest male ever. With his death, Kimura also became the last living man born in the 1890s (and later, with the death of James Sisnett, the 19th century). He and Kimura were also the only two verified men born in the 1890s who lived into the 2010s.
Emma Martina Luigia Morano (29 November 1899 – 15 April 2017) was an Italian supercentenarian who, before her death at the age of 117 years and 137 days, was the world's oldest living person whose age had been verified, and the last living person to have been verified as being born in the 1800s. She remains the oldest Italian person ever and the second-oldest European person ever behind Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment.
Baker was the first supercentenarian listed by "Guinness World Records" as the world's then-oldest person. In 2002, researchers confirmed she had been the world's oldest living person by modern verification standards for an unknown period of time prior to her death in 1955. She was the second person in the world (after Delina Filkins) to have reached the age of 113 and to have been validated by modern standards.
Venere Pizzinato (married Papo, 23 November 1896 – 2 August 2011) was an Italian supercentenarian, living to the age of 114 years, 252 days. At the time of her death she was the oldest person ever from Italy, a title she held until 13 December 2011 when she was surpassed by Dina Manfredini. She was the world's third oldest living person, behind Besse Cooper and Chiyono Hasegawa. Pizzinato was also the oldest person ever to have been born in the Austro-Hungarian empire. She was the oldest person ever to be born and die in Italy, until being surpassed by Emma Morano on 9 August 2014.
The Dionne quintuplets were born on a farm near Corbeil. Corbeil was also the home of Marie-Louise Meilleur, a supercentenarian who was 117 years old when she died in 1998. She was the oldest living person in the world for the eight months preceding her death, and remains both the oldest verified person in Canadian history and the fourth oldest verified person in the world. She lived at the Nipissing Manor Nursing Home, which was once the mansion that housed the Dionne sisters.
Sarah DeRemer Knauss (née Clark; September 24, 1880 – December 30, 1999) was an American supercentenarian. Knauss is the oldest person ever from the United States, and widely reported as the second-oldest fully documented person ever. She was recognized as the world's oldest living person by Guinness World Records from April 16, 1998, until her death.
Morano died at her home in Verbania, Italy, on 15 April 2017 at the age of 117. At the time she was the oldest person alive and the fifth-oldest person in recorded history. She was recognised as the last living person born before 1900 whose age had been independently verified. Upon Morano's death, Violet Brown became the world's oldest living person.
Japanese supercentenarians are citizens, residents or emigrants from Japan who have attained or surpassed 110 years of age. , the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) had validated the longevity claims of 264 Japanese supercentenarians, most of them women. The oldest person in Japan, and also in the world, currently alive is Kane Tanaka, born 2 January 1903, age . The oldest Japanese person on record was Nabi Tajima, who died on 21 April 2018 aged 117 years, 260 days. Japan was also home to the world's oldest man ever, Jiroemon Kimura, who lived 116 years and 54 days.