Who Is the Oldest Person in the World?

There's something to be said for the healing nature of tropical island life, if Eugenie Blanchard is any indication.

At 114 years old (she would turn 115 in February of 2011), the resident of the French Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy (commonly referred to as Saint Bart's) is now officially the world's oldest living human, according to Guinness World Records.

Madame Blanchard gained the title in May, after the death of Kama Chinen of Japan – a relative hotbed for so-called supercentenarians, or those aged 110 and above.

Of the 82 supercentenarians – 79 females and 3 males – alive on the planet, 21 are Japanese, according to the Gerontology Research Group, a Los Angeles-based society dedicated to tracking and verifying claims of old age.

There are another 21 supercentenarians living in the United States and five in France, which also has the honor of being home to the world's oldest living person ever.

When she died in 1997, Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment had reached the ripe and fully-authenticated old age of 122 years and 164 days.

Though the current “oldest living person” sash has and will change hands often enough over the years, Calment's record is unlikely to be challenged for some time. Officially, she is the only person to have ever lived past 120, and is just one of four people to see 117 candles on a birthday cake.

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