Q COSTA RICA — José Flores, a Costa Rican native of the Nicoya Peninsula, is waiting for the paperwork needed to verify his age and submit his case for official recognition, to be recognized as the world’s oldest man at the age of 119.
According to Costa Rica’s Civil Registry, Flores was born on July 11, 1907.
At such extreme ages, such claims require extensive evidence, including civil records that establish a person’s identity and date of birth beyond reasonable doubt.
Until that process is complete, José Flores remains a remarkable candidate rather than the officially recognized world’s oldest man.
To date, the world’s oldest verified living man is João Marinho Neto of Brazil, born on October 5, 1912, making him 113 years and 350 days old. The oldest man ever was Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, who died in 2013 at age 116.
Flores left his native Guanacaste at a young age and returned in 2024, having spent much of his life as a farmer and banana plantation laborer in Costa Rica’s Southern Zone.
Flores takes only two pills and a few drops for his prostate and heart. For his family, the key lies in a traditional diet and the warmth of a loving home. A widower for 23 years, he fathered eight children, one of whom has passed away.
The Nicoya Peninsula Blue Zone Association is managing the process to have him listed in the Guinness World Records as “the longest-living man in human history,” explained its president, Jorge Vindas. If confirmed, he would be surpassed only by the Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122.
His case is not unique, however; he lives on the Nicoya Peninsula, a region classified as a “Blue Zone.” This term designates areas of the world characterized not only by a high concentration of people over the age of 100 but also by a population that ages without developing health issues such as heart disease, obesity, cancer, or diabetes.
Consequently, Flores is part of a population in a region that records the world’s lowest mid-life mortality rate and the second-highest concentration of male centenarians, according to data from National Geographic.
The research identifying this Costa Rican region as a Blue Zone was conducted by writer Dan Buettner with the support of the National Geographic Society; the study also identified Ikaria (Greece), Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), and Loma Linda (California, USA) as Blue Zones.
For now, the Costa Rican man will remain at home under the care of his granddaughter, Hellen Flores, while awaiting official validation recognizing him internationally as the world’s oldest living person.