According to the Guinness Book of World Records, João Marinho Neto from Apuiarés, Ceará, Brazil, is the oldest living man in the world. Born on Oct. 5, 1912, he's a few months shy of his 114th birthday.
He's also a couple of years shy of breaking the Guinness record for being the oldest man in history. That would be Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, who lived to be 116 years and 54 days old.
However, if things work out the way his family hopes they will, José Flores Flores, who lives in the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica, could shatter both of those records soon. The former farmer just celebrated his 119th birthday on July 11.
He was born in the small town of Las Lajas de Cañas, Guanacaste, in 1907, according to both civil records and records from his baptism. While Guinness does not currently recognize him as the oldest living man, his family is working on trying to change that by submitting his personal documents for international review. Flores wouldn't just become the oldest living man if they're accepted, but the oldest living human on the planet. That title currently belongs to a British woman named Ethel Caterham, who was born on Aug. 21, 1909.
All of the records and verifications aside, what I found remarkable about this story is that Flores is in pretty good shape. There are no wheelchairs, canes, or walkers to help him get around — he walks on his own. He eats on his own. He talks and communicates clearly. He enjoys watching boxing matches and movies, according to his family, and one of his favorite things to do is play dominoes, a game that he often wins. He's pretty independent and only takes one medication to help control his blood pressure.
His diet consists mostly of rice, beans, tortillas, cheese, milk, and vegetables. He goes to bed at 7 every night, which is easy to do in Costa Rica, where the sun sets between 5 and 6 p.m. every day of the year.
That sounds kind of boring, but his life has been anything but, especially in his later years.
As a younger man, he said he smoked and drank alcohol but gave it up. He spent most of his life working as a farmer, traveling to various parts of Costa Rica to find work. His family says he fought in the country's Civil War in 1948. He also married and had 16 children. He's outlived half of them.
Here's something even more interesting: In 2021, he developed COVID-19 and actually suffered some pretty serious symptoms. His family didn't tell him what he had because they were afraid it would upset him, but at the ripe old age of 114, he overcame it. A year later, he got sick again, but again, he survived.
In 2023, he was stranded due to severe flooding in Guanacaste and had to be evacuated from his home via helicopter. "Relatives said he boarded the aircraft calmly despite having little experience with air travel," according to the Tico Times.
Earlier this year, when Costa Rica went to the polls to vote for their amazing new president, Laura Fernández Delgado, he became the oldest citizen to ever cast a vote. It was, apparently, the 25th time he'd voted in his life.
Related: They Told Him He Was Dying. They Were Wrong.
Living to this age is not common, but it may be more common in Costa Rica than it is in most other parts of the world. Earlier this year, I wrote about a Greek man who lived in the United States and was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. That was in 1976. He returned to his birthplace, the Greek island of Ikaria, and ended up living a full life. He died in 2013.
Ikaria is actually considered one of the world's few "Blue Zones," or places where people live long, healthy lives, often living to be 100 or older. And they do so without much medical intervention. Diet, exercise, low stress levels, happiness, and community are their medicine. Costa Rica just happens to be home to one of those so-called Blue Zones.
It's located in the town of Nicoya, but when I'm there, I'll admit that I find that vibe in many parts of the country. And I find myself eating healthier, moving more, socializing more naturally than I do here at home, and just living a simpler, happier life. While I'm sure he has good genes, I can't help but think that Mr. Flores' longevity has something to do with that, too.
