World’s Oldest Woman Dies At Age 127

The world’s oldest woman died at the age of 127 in China. Luo Meizhen was born in Guangxi, China in 1885, making her the oldest woman, and possibly the oldest person to have ever lived.

Shanghaiiststated that Luo never recognized her claim to be the oldest person to have ever lived because “China did not have a reliable birth certification system at the end of the nineteenth century.”

Lou’s 1885 birth date was quoted on her official residency permit and identity card, both of which were issued in recent decades, and according to ZeeNews, both where confirmed by a state-sponsored research institute in 2010.

Luo was very ill for the last few months of her life, says her son Huang Youhe according to ZeeNews, a news source in India

Some skepticism has arisen to the true age of the woman because of how young some of her children are, says ZeeNews. It was said that one of her children she had actually given birth to at the age of 61.

The Guinness World Records officially recognizes a French woman, Jeanne Calment, as the oldest person to have ever lived, after dying at the age of 122 and 164 days in 1997.

According to Shanghaiist, Lou’s county in Guangi is famous for it’s residents’ longevity.

“Bama Yao Autonomous County had 81 centenarians in 2011, a rate of 31.7 per 100,000 people, far higher than the global average, which is 7.5 centenarians per 100,000 people.”

Her relatives gathered in her simply furnished brick house Tuesday, according to ZeeNews, to light red incense sticks in remembrance.

Relatives said they had stored her body on a mountain close to their home and were waiting for an auspicious date later this month to bury her.

The title of oldest living person is said to be passed down to Misao Okawa, a resident of Japan who was born on March 5, 1989.

[Image via Huffington Post]