--- title: Emma Morano Celebrates 117th Birthday as World's Oldest Person description: Italy's Emma Morano, whose life spans three centuries, just celebrated her 117th birthday as the world's oldest person. canonical: https://time.com/4584886/emma-morano-117-birthday-worlds-oldest-person/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-29T18:34:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:00.649Z og:title: The Oldest Person in the World Celebrated Her 117th Birthday og:description: Emma Morano's life spans three centuries og:url: https://time.com/4584886/emma-morano-117-birthday-worlds-oldest-person/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt556b4d27dadf2c91/6988afee524fc00d93dfa5ea/emma-morano-oldest-woman-in-the-world.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: ITALY-OLDEST-PERSON-MORANO og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Oldest Person in the World Celebrated Her 117th Birthday twitter:description: Emma Morano's life spans three centuries twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt556b4d27dadf2c91/6988afee524fc00d93dfa5ea/emma-morano-oldest-woman-in-the-world.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The World's Oldest Woman Emma Morano Celebrates Her 117th Birthday  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Nov 29, 2016 6:34 PM UTC  Emma Morano, 116, poses for AFP photographer in Verbania, North Italy, on May 14, 2016\. (Photo credit should read OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images) Emma Morano, 116, poses for AFP photographer in Verbania, North Italy, on May 14, 2016\. (Photo credit should read OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images)OLIVIER MORIN—AFP/Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Nov 29, 2016 6:34 PM UTC As the only living person born in the 1800s, Italy’s Emma Morano’s life spans three centuries, [making her the world’s oldest person alive](http://time.com/4337417/new-oldest-person/). Over the years, she’s survived multiple wars, an abusive marriage, and the loss of her only child, a son. According to the [_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38134004), Morano, who celebrated her 117th birthday on Tuesday, credits her longevity to her genetics and diet; her mother lived to 91 and many of her sisters lived to see 100\. Morano’s daily diet included eating three eggs — two of which were raw, on the recommendation of a doctor after a case of anemia — every day since she was a teenager; now, she’s reduced it to only two eggs and few biscuits. Morano’s other secret to a long and happy life? Kicking out her husband after her infant son died in 1938; according to an interview with [_La Stampa_](http://www.lastampa.it/2011/11/29/italia/cronache/i-miei-anni-di-storia-d-italia-purnE6hXLpLBAUv5TPxsiN/pagina.html)newspaper, her marriage was marked by troubles. Although they remained separated, Morano never divorced her husband, and chose to never remarry again, summing it up succinctly in a statement to the [_New York Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/world/raw-eggs-and-no-husband-since-38-keep-her-young-at-115.html?%5Fr=2): “I didn’t want to be dominated by anyone.” As an homage to Morano’s extraordinary life, there will be a musical performance telling the story of her life, which according to the play’s writers, “represents the feminine courage which rebelled against domestic violence.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4584886/emma-morano-117-birthday-worlds-oldest-person/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4584886/emma-morano-117-birthday-worlds-oldest-person/"},"headline":"The World's Oldest Woman Emma Morano Celebrates Her 117th Birthday","datePublished":"2016-11-29T18:34:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:00.649Z","description":"Her life spans three centuries","url":"https://time.com/4584886/emma-morano-117-birthday-worlds-oldest-person/","keywords":["Newsfeed","entertainment","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt556b4d27dadf2c91/6988afee524fc00d93dfa5ea/emma-morano-oldest-woman-in-the-world.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt556b4d27dadf2c91/6988afee524fc00d93dfa5ea/emma-morano-oldest-woman-in-the-world.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ITALY-OLDEST-PERSON-MORANO","caption":"ITALY-OLDEST-PERSON-MORANO","creditText":"OLIVIER MORIN—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4584886/emma-morano-117-birthday-worlds-oldest-person/","name":"The World's Oldest Woman Emma Morano Celebrates Her 117th Birthday"}}]}] ```