Belarus villager may be world's oldest woman

Maria, left, has outlived her four children

GOMEL, Belarus -- Church records have shown that a woman living in Belarus was born in 1878 -- which if correct could make her the world's oldest woman at 122 years.

Maria Sharaya was born in the village of Nizniye Zhary, on the border with Ukraine, and her birth date appears on her passport, which is based on the church records.

Maria lives with sister Yevdokia Krimenyuk, herself 88 years of age, in the small village 10 kilometres from the infamous Chernobyl nuclear power station, and the area around the village was heavily contaminated in the 1986 accident.

She was the second child in the family of seven, was married and had four children -- but she outlived all of them a long time ago.

Although the records clearly state Maria's age, there is some uncertainty as to whether the date is correct.

The sisters live in this small hut in Belarus

"In those days everyone was taken to the priest to be baptised. There are old church records there and it says clearly that I was born in 1912," Yevdokia said. "It is written that she (Maria) is 122 but maybe there was some mistake. I'm not sure."

Some villagers also think there could have been a mistake and that Maria's birth date was confused with her mother's -- if so she could be at least 16 years younger than previously thought.

In spite of their age, the sisters say they can manage without doctors -- a good thing considering the nearest hospital is about 40 kilometres away.

According to Guinness World Records, the oldest fully authenticated age to which any human has ever lived is 122 years and 164 days by Jeanne Louise Calment.

She was born in France on February 21, 1875, and died at a nursing home in Arles, southern France on August 4, 1997.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Guinness World Records
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Old Age Across Cultures and Time

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