Fact Check: Only one person has ever been documented to live past age 119.

Fact Check: "Only one person has ever been documented to live past age 119."

What We Know

The claim that "only one person has ever been documented to live past age 119" is misleading. While it is true that verified supercentenarians (people aged 110 years and older) are exceedingly rare, there have been multiple documented cases of individuals living past the age of 119. The oldest verified person is Jeanne Calment, who lived to be 122 years and 164 days old, passing away in 1997. Additionally, there have been other individuals who have reached or surpassed the age of 119, such as Kane Tanaka, who was recognized as the world's oldest living person until her death at age 119 in April 2022.

According to a study on supercentenarians, while the population of individuals aged 110 and older is small, it is not limited to a single individual who has lived past 119 years. The study notes that there are indeed a few documented cases of people reaching this age, although they are extremely rare (Andersen et al., 2012).

Analysis

The assertion that only one person has ever lived past age 119 lacks comprehensive support from the available data. The oldest verified individuals, including Jeanne Calment and Kane Tanaka, demonstrate that there are at least two documented cases of people living beyond this age threshold. The Gerontology Research Group, which specializes in verifying extreme ages, maintains a list of supercentenarians that includes multiple individuals who have surpassed 119 years.

Moreover, the claim may stem from a misunderstanding of the verification process for extreme ages. While many claims of extreme longevity are indeed false, as noted in the literature (Andersen et al., 2012), the existence of verified cases like Calment and Tanaka contradicts the claim. The credibility of the sources used to verify these ages, such as birth certificates and census data, further supports the legitimacy of these claims (Andersen et al., 2012; Wikipedia).

Conclusion

Verdict: False
The claim that "only one person has ever been documented to live past age 119" is false. There are multiple verified cases of individuals who have lived beyond this age, including Jeanne Calment, who lived to 122 years, and Kane Tanaka, who lived to 119 years. The assertion fails to account for these documented instances and misrepresents the rarity of supercentenarians.