Secret to long life
Born on March 13, 1903 — 11 years before the First World War broke out — he died of heart failure and pneumonia in the city of Nagoya. Koide, who worked as a tailor in his younger days, died in a nursing home.
By all accounts a happy and positive man, upon taken over the title of oldest male last year he was asked the best way to ensure a long life. “The best thing to do is avoid overwork and live with joy,” he replied.
He also said he did not drink or smoke.
It is not officially known who is the new oldest man on Earth but it may be a man from China, Zhou Youguang, who at just 110 years and five days is relatively young for such a title. Despite their age, neither Youguang nor Koide made the top 10 list of oldest humans, who are all women.
The oldest human
The oldest human on Earth is believed to be Susannah Mushat Jones of the U.S., who is 116 years and 96 days. Of the top 10 oldest living people, Jones is the only American; five are from Japan, one from Italy, one is from Jamaica, one from French Guyana and one from Spain.
Naturally, as was the case of Koide, the mantle of being the oldest man, woman or human on the planet is not generally one held for very long. In April of last year, Gertrude Weaver of the U.S. died just five days after becoming the oldest human on the planet.
Weaver was replaced by Jeralean Talley, another American, who lasted as the world’s oldest person for 72 days before dying on June 17, 2015, thereby handing the title to Jones, who’s been on top for 215 days.
The person known to have lived the longest live ever was Jeanne Calment of France, who lived from February 1875 until August of 1997, dying at the age of 122 years and 164 days.
And finally, of the 58 longest lives recorded since 1955, 52 of them were the lives of women and six the lives of men.
