World's Oldest Person Has Just Died!

Guinness Book credits as the oldest living person the American Edna Parker, born on the 20th of April, 1893 (thus 114 years, 7 months and 28 days old). But, the oldest person in the world seems to actually have been an Ukraine man, Hryhoriy Nestor, a bachelor born on the 15th March, 1891, according to the family documents, in the village of Stary Yarychev, in the western Ukraine's region of Lviv (then, part of Austro-Hungary and called Lemberg).

Nestor died in his sleep on Friday night, in his native village, before being registered in the Guinness World Records, according to Kiev newspaper Segodnya.

"He had led an active life to the last, helping around the house, whether it was making dumplings or tending the chickens. His death came as a surprise to us, he just didn't wake up again. After his master's death, his favorite cat Murchik didn't go into his corner like he usually did but lay down on his bed", said Oksana, his last relation with whom he lived.

Nestor was a former farm laborer and used to say his long life was due to the fact that he never married.

"He didn't find himself a mate because he was a short man and never had money. He also led a healthy life", said Oksana. Nestor enjoyed living in the open and running barefoot through the grass. He moderately drank vodka and loved simple country food, like warm potatoes and herring, and cabbage with home-made sausage. By the time he was born, average life expectancy in Europe was less than 50 years.

On the other hand, Parker got her title in August 2007, after the death of the Japanese Yone Minagawa, 3 months and 16 days older than her. Parker was born on the same day as silent movie star Harold Lloyd.

Parker lives in a retirement community in Shelbyville, Indiana, and unlike Minagawa, Parker still has a good health and can walk.

Japan detains the world record of average longevity, with about 28.000 persons aged over 100. This is put on the healthy alimentation and quality medical care. Japan possesses one of the longest average life spans, 85.3 years for women and 78.3 for men, and the world's oldest recorded man is a Japanese, Tomoji Tanabe, 111 years old, born September 18th, 1895.

The world's absolute longevity record is detained by the French woman Jeanne Calment, which died in 1997, aged 122.