Spanish woman believed to be the oldest person in the world has died at age 117

Maria Branyas, an American-born Spaniard considered the world’s oldest person at 117 years old, has died, her family says. In a post on Branyas’ X account, her family wrote that "she has gone the way she wanted: in her sleep, at peace, and without pain.” The Gerontology Research Group validates details of people thought to be 110 or older. The group listed Branyas as the oldest known person in the world. Branyas was born in San Francisco in 1907. At the time of her death she was living in a nursing home in the town of Olot in northeast Spain.