r/news • u/tonystarks347 • 1d ago
Soft paywall Costa Rican man, 119, seeks recognition as world's oldest person
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/costa-rican-man-119-seeks-recognition-worlds-oldest-person-2026-09-09/179
u/PerfectBowl9199 1d ago
I should note that a death certificate for Flores's mother from 1925 has been found by researchers, and it notes that José was 6 years old. This means Flores would be "just" 107 years old.
The 1907 birth certificate, which is the hinge of the entire claim, could be that of a different person.
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u/Star_____walker 1d ago
That would make him the oldest confirmed man to ever have lived, surpassing the verified record holder Jiroemon Kimura, who lived to 116, by 3 years, as well as the fourth oldest person ever (second if he lives a few more weeks).
If true, of course.
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u/alcabazar 1d ago
Guinness says they are reviewing his birth certificate, baptism record, and documents throughout his life. He was born in 1907 which (while admittedly a long time ago) is recent enough that the documents should be verifiable. For example he would only be one year older than Lyndon B. Johnson.
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u/what_is_blue 1d ago
It seems pretty legit. And if it isn’t then I don’t think he’s too far off and some admin’s just gone awry. Dude’s clearly unbelievably old, lives somewhere where people often become extremely old and nobody involved has anything to gain from lying.
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u/Dr_thri11 1d ago
Not saying he's not legit, but sometimes the gain is fraudulently claiming an older relatives benefits after they die. Sometimes it's just pride. And it's probably not a coincidence that blue zones tend to be in areas without very good recording keeping 100 or so years ago.
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u/Zigxy 1d ago
Isn’t one of the blue zones in Southern California?
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u/Billy1121 1d ago
The Blue Zones story editor asked the author to pick a place in the US to make the story more appealing.
Unfortunately a lot of the Blue Zones are just places with bad record keeping, like Okinawa or Sardinia. Okinawa is kinda famous in Japan as having poor diet and diseases of high consumption, so it being included as a longevity zone was weird.
And since it was Loma Linda, Adventist Health bought the Blue Zones concept and started promoting it.
But the other Blue Zones researchers split off from Dan Beuttner. I heard they just rejected Galicia, Spain as a new blue zone because of poor data.
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u/CFBCoachGuy 1d ago
Loma Linda claims to be a “blue zone” but their claims aren’t particularly strong. Martinique and Singapore also have some claim to be blue zones, but people disagree.
The four accepted blue zones are Okinawa in Japan, the Nuoro province of Sardinia in Italy, the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica (where this gentlemen is from), and Icaria in Greece.
Blue zones are controversial for a few reasons. Mainly because they have been commercialized to claim to have the secret or a long life (Loma Linda spent millions of dollars advertising its “blue zone” status). The blue zone health fad is a billion dollar industry. One of the people who coined the term “blue zone”, Dan Buettner, has built an empire of cookbooks, seminars, even a Netflix series.
There was also a very public critique that argued that blue zones can be entirely explained by poor record keeping (something that many comments below will cite), but that critique has never been published in a peer reviewed scientific journal. And there have been several studies using advanced demographic measurements (like this one) that continue to validate the existence of blue zones and argue that it’s not just poor record keeping- after all, most of the planet had poor record keeping 120 years ago.
So they do seem to exist, the question now becomes, how? And we get more controversy here because researchers aren’t sure. Buettner argues that longevity in these places can be entirely explained by plant based diets, which probably isn’t the case (or at least, the only case). Others claim environmental or social factors. Another explanation is the high rates of physical and sexual activity in these regions. It’s probably a combination of all of the above.
And here’s the other question. Blue zones seem to be going away. The elderly in the Nicoyet Peninsula- long subject to tourism development- aren’t living as long as their parents did. The same is true in Okinawa, where other health measures (such as birth weights) are also declining.
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u/byneothername 1d ago
You probably mean Loma Linda. Lots of 7th day adventists out there. They don’t drink or eat meat.
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u/Dr_thri11 1d ago
Not saying it's a comeplete myth, but there's reason to believe it's heavily exaggerated. Not eating a high calorie diet is actually good for you so not surprising that places without a lot of calorie dense cuisine have higher than average lifespans. But I doubt most of these places actually have as many 100yr olds as they claim.
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u/heavyPacket 1d ago
I’m a bit confused by your wording… If he is the oldest person to have ever lived, then how would he be the fourth oldest person ever? I don’t understand what you mean. There were only 3 “oldest person alive” before this dude? But if he is fourth, then shouldn’t there be 3 people older than him on record?
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u/Star_____walker 1d ago
The oldest man to ever live. The oldest confirmed man to ever live is Jiroemon Kimura who lived to be 116, however a lot of women have lived past that age.
If this guy is the age says he is, he is just behind Sarah Knauss and Kane Tanaka, who lived to be 119 years and 97 days, and 119 years and 107 days respectively, and three years behind Jeanne Calment, who lived to be 122.
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u/lan-shark 1d ago
The current oldest confirmed living person is 117, a lady in England. The oldest confirmed living man is Brazilian, aged 113.
The oldest living person ever was a 122yo French woman who died in 1997. The oldest living man ever was 116, a Japanese man who died in 2013.
The man this post is about, if he is in fact 119 years old, would be:
- The oldest person alive right now by ~2 years
- The oldest man ever recorded, alive or dead, by ~3 years
- The fourth oldest human ever recorded, alive or dead, behind three women aged 122, 119, and 119 years (with varying numbers of weeks separating the 119s)
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u/theb0tman 1d ago
Women exist
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u/heavyPacket 1d ago
Thanks for that enlightening revelation. I just had a brain moment where I interpreted “man” as both men and women, you know like mankind.
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u/internazionale3 1d ago
Not necessarily. If they can verify he is 119, he will hold the record whether he lives another 5 years or dies tomorrow
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u/Cynykl 1d ago
Guinness has become a joke. They are an authority on nothing. Even since they decided to hand out records to the highest bidder they have lost all credibility.
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u/similar_observation 1d ago
The whole point of the book was to settle bar trivia arguments. There's a reason they share the name with a beer company.
They were never in a position to be an authority
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u/WalletFullOfSausage 1d ago
Hm. Sorry, I don’t recognize him. Never seen him before in my life, in fact.
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u/inosinateVR 1d ago
Damn, he would be Frida’s age, if she were alive today. Both born in 1907
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u/Argos_the_Dog 1d ago
1907 is bonkers. My one great-grandfather was born in 1896, but died in 1995. I mean he hung in there big time but 1907-2026 and beyond is next level.
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u/justalittleloopi 1d ago
My great grandma was born in 1907 and died at a very old age of 94... in 2001. 25 years ago. Just to put perspective on it. Her daughter, my grandma, will be 93 in a couple months.
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u/X0036AU2XH 1d ago
My nana was born in 1923 and died 11 years ago…at 92. And she was pretty much “gone” for 2-3 years before that.
It feels like she died such a long time ago and the idea we’re actually talking about someone having been born SIXTEEN years before her is really making it hit home for me how wild the idea of living to 119 is.
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u/justalittleloopi 1d ago
My grandma is still extremely functional, drives, lives in her house, and proclaims she's making it to at least 100. Which is not unheard of in my family. Fortunately, dementia isn't common in my family. But it's still crazy to think that my infant son could be an adult before she passes and she still wouldn't even be a supercentinarian, let alone Crack the top 100.
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u/X0036AU2XH 1d ago
My son has some decent genes on both sides of his family tree among his ancestors (he’s 9, the last born on both sides of the family to parents in their mid-30s and still has all 4 grandparents) so he might have a shot at the big record one day. I do a lot of genealogy and basically there are two groups on our tree - a small group who gets cancer and dies in their 60s, and a larger group where if you make it to 70, you’re going to get to your 90s. A few of my nana’s younger siblings are still alive and are getting very close to 100. I also just discovered recently that my dad’s great aunt who he never spoke about died only 10 years ago at 102.
On my husband’s side, my son has an 86 year old grandfather who is still going strong (drives long distances, travels abroad solo for work and is still working.) He had a great uncle that died at 104 who was extremely sharp until 102. My son also had a great grandmother through my husband’s mother who lived long enough to meet him before passing at 97. If you go back in their family trees, they descend from well documented New England families who frequently had people living into their 80s-90s in the 1700 and 1800s.
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u/inosinateVR 1d ago
That’s crazy. Chronologically it makes logical sense that her daughter would now be her same age 25 years later but for some reason the idea that “her daughter is about to be 93 now” breaks my brain a little bit.
Like, it’s making me realize when you get to a certain age you’ll be closer in age and have more in common with your parents than to the rest of the younger population. (At least if your parents were relatively young when you were born, mine were in their mid 30’s so still a pretty decent gap)
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u/Bora_Horza_Gobuchol 1d ago edited 1d ago
He born at a perfect time, too young for WW1 and to old for WW2
Edit: not to mention he was born when people would only work 20 or so years at a company and receive pension for life
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u/138Crimson_Ghost831 1d ago
The one thing that all supercentenarians have in common is that they come from places with poor birth records.
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u/champion9876 1d ago
And an incentive to claim to be older so you can retire early on a government pension
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u/Temnodontosaurus 18h ago
That is completely and utterly false. Western Europe has had excellent birth records since the late 1800s, for one. Especially Scandinavia. There are multiple false claims in the Saul Newman preprint (for example, claiming that an Italian province with no validated supercentenarian cases has the second-most supercentenarians in Italy per capita, or that no validated US supercentenarians have birth certificates).
With that being said, this Costa Rican claim is bullshit.
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u/138Crimson_Ghost831 18h ago
Then by your own statement my comment is not completely and utterly false. Scandinavia can be considered the exception and not the rule.
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u/Temnodontosaurus 18h ago
The one thing that all supercentenarians have in common is that they come from places with poor birth records.
There's no nuance in this comment.
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u/138Crimson_Ghost831 18h ago
I would keep this going but after looking at your profile I’m just going to walk away.
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u/ya_bebto 1d ago
These “oldest person in the world cases” are usually just fraud. Either they’re alive, and falsified their birth certificate, or died and it never got reported because someone is collecting their pension. These cases usually come out of countries/areas with low government oversight and poor record keeping for a reason. You also see a lot of news stories about “potential oldest person alive”, but not a lot about an actual new oldest person alive.
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u/2_short_Plancks 1d ago
Costa Rica specifically had a civil war that overthrew the existing government and caused massive disruption to how it was run, less than a hundred years ago.
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u/ItsTyrrellsAlt 1d ago
You would be hard pressed to find any country where that isn't the case in some form in the last 119 years.
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u/Ganbazuroi 1d ago
Yeah people like Ethel Caterham, Sister Inah and others are validated for a reason - there's extensive evidence proving that they, in fact, were that old which isn't the case with most other claimants
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u/No-Memory-2740 1d ago
I’m 46 and feeling it lately and this man is almost 3 times my age. I need to reflect on that.
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u/ThatThingInTheCorner 1d ago
A lot of less developed countries just didn't record births all that time ago.
My great grandmother was born in Africa and she never had a proper birth certificate because record keeping back then was non existent, so her age was estimated on her British passport. She was officially 104 when she died but everyone knew she was actually older than that, as she had children in their 90s but of course there was no evidence to prove that she was older.
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u/steathrazor 1d ago
Yes and I'm at Blue ringed octopus
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u/OddGold348 1d ago
Imagine living in 13 different decades and having lived in the 00s, 10s and 20s TWICE.
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u/Craterdome 1d ago
This is so obviously not true, it shouldn’t even be reported on.
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u/Sandee1997 1d ago
And your evidence?
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u/astirac 1d ago
This does seem to happen every few years, and it’s always a country that didn’t have very good birth records at the time of the persons birth. I can’t imagine Costa Rica was a medical and record keeping powerhouse in the early 1900s, so personally imma need to see some proof.
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u/arcos00 1d ago
A powerhouse, certainly not. But serious record keeping was starting to happen, and a lot of clean up was done over the 20th century. There are tons of small inconsistencies in the registries, though. Parents were fined if they didn't register their kids as soon as they were born, so for example my grandma's (102 y/o and thankfully still alive) birthday is registered as May and not in April. My great grandparents were probably late in registering her birth and they didn't want to pay the fine.
However, this man's birthdate wouldn't be a small inconsistency. If his national ID card says 1907 as they claim, I'm inclined to believe it and it should be easy for them to prove it with government records. What makes me hesitate is 1) why would they only claim this now, it's a very rural area but if its true they could have done it a long time ago, 2) the involvement of the "blue zone" organizations, which to me as a Costa Rican have always seemed kind of sketchy, and more of a marketing ploy than anything else.
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u/_Koreander 1d ago
I dont know, people in CR commonly live a long time, we have a lot of news reports about 100+ elders, my Great Grandma died a few months ago and she was 105, not saying it's true but also seems dismissive to just say it isn't if there are actual records about it, and to be honest I doubt you know how accurate they really are.
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u/OldTimeyWizard 1d ago
Even in countries with good record keeping, shit happens and the records could be lost or destroyed. Most of the 1890 United States Census was destroyed due to a a fire in DC in the 1920s.
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u/Sandee1997 1d ago
That’s fine but someone arguing the opposite without proof kinda goes the same way
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u/pimparo0 1d ago
Especially saying it shouldn't be reported on, tabloid stuff like this pops up all the time. It's not like the actual people tracking this won't verify.
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u/Kingofthewho5 1d ago
Look at that picture of him in 1977. He looks like he's about 50 in the photo but he was supposedly 69 at the time.
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u/Boognish84 1d ago
What makes you think this? The guy is seeking to have his age recognised by an official body. Guinness would carry out due diligence before it would recognise his claim.
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u/hokaythxbai 5h ago
This claim happens a lot. Last year a guy who claimed to be 128 from India died
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivananda_(yoga_teacher)
Would you believe him too?
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u/StruggleBoy1999 1d ago
Theirs a lot of people around the world who make this claim. Yet also never have the necessary documentation to prove it sadly.
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u/BuzRaho 1d ago
Considering most retirement models calculate how much you need to have saved by 65 to live another 20-25 years…what does one do for the remaining 35 YEARS after that?
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u/Bora_Horza_Gobuchol 1d ago
Well most of those centenariane were born at a time where you could receive full pension til death plus they have family support
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u/apawintheface 1d ago
Imagine being 80 and having 40 years left in your life.