14 Facts About Maria Branyas

Maria Branyas was the first child and eldest daughter to Joseph Branyas Julia and Teresa Morera Laque.

Maria Branyas was part of an expatriate family who had moved there in 1906, the year prior to her birth.

Maria Branyas was both struggling financially, declared bankruptcy, and his doctor recommended a move amid his declining health.

Maria Branyas's father died of tuberculosis on the voyage, and her mother later remarried.

On 16 July 1931, Maria Branyas married Joan Moret, a traumatologist, with whom she had three children.

Maria Branyas was the director of the Josep Trueta Hospital, then called Residencia Sanitaria Alvarez de Castro, in Girona from 1972 to 1974.

Maria Branyas worked as a nurse and as her husband's assistant until his death in 1976.

Maria Branyas was described as an active resident there, continuing to perform exercises until her mobility deteriorated.

Maria Branyas played the piano until she was 108, and used a voice-to-text platform to communicate due to hearing loss.

Maria Branyas became a supercentenarian in 2017, which is achieved by about one in a thousand centenarians.

In March 2020, Maria Branyas became the then-oldest person to recover from COVID-19.

Maria Branyas officially became the oldest living person in the world on 17 January 2023, after the death of Lucile Randon of France.

Maria Branyas died of natural causes in her sleep on 19 August 2024 at the age of 117 years and 168 days.

Itooka was born in 1908 and as such Maria Branyas was the last living person born in 1907, which she held the title for following the death of 116-year old Fusa Tatsumi in December 2023.