128 and counting: the world’s oldest lady is not the one we thought
Published 29 January, 2009, 20:08
It’s almost official: the world’s oldest person is from Uzbekistan, and her passport says she’s 128.
It was by sheer accident that local officials spotted the birth records of Tuti Yusupova living in the town of Tortkol. The authorities were preparing for the 14th anniversary of the independence of the country and were leafing through the papers of people over 100 years old. According to the records there, her birth date is July 1, 1880.
This makes her 13 years older than the world’s current officially oldest person. According to the Gerontology Research Group, it is Maria De Gezur from Portugal with the birth date of September 10, 1893. Previously this record was held by Edna Parker, an American who died in November last year at the age of 115.
Yusupova had married when she was 17 years old in 1897. She went on to have two children. Her husband died in the 1940s. She now lives with her granddaughters and is much respected and praised by her community. Yusupova says she is in good health but complains of having problems with hearing.
In February last year Mariam Amash of Israel attempted to earn the title of the world’s oldest living person. Her birth certificate stated she was born in 1888, but it was never confirmed if the document was genuine.
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