KUÇOVA, Albania – Qamile Marra (117) is not fussed about proving she might be the world’s oldest woman. She is too busy enjoying life.

“Life is beautiful, like Mount Tomorr in bloom,” she says with a smile from her home in Ferras, a village 100 km south of Tirana.

Born under Ottoman rule in 1909, Marra turned 36 just two weeks before World War II ended. She lived through Albania’s communist dictatorship and has now witnessed five generations of her family grow up around her.

Official documents confirm her age

Several official papers list Marra’s birthdate as 19 August 1909, which would make her two days older than Britain’s Ethel Caterham. Guinness World Records currently recognises Caterham as the world’s oldest living woman.

Her relatives have contacted Guinness Records. They hold a birth certificate from 1945, a passport from 1978 and a recent identity card – all showing the same date of birth.

Local authorities were so surprised by her age that they stopped her pension when she turned 100. “They didn’t believe my mother was still alive,” says her son Hysen (80). He had to provide proof, including witness statements, to restart the small payments.

The government issued her a special state pension earlier this month to mark her remarkable age.

A simple life in the village

Marra has spent almost her entire life in Ferras, surrounded by fruit trees. She grew her own food and tended livestock for decades.

“You live as long as God has decreed,” she says, her deeply wrinkled face framed by a traditional white headscarf.

Her daily routine remains active. She wakes early to sweep the yard, water her flowers and feed the chickens before settling down with a coffee.

She still takes regular walks through her orchard with Hysen, who lives with her. They stop to pick ripe pomegranates along the way. She also slips basil leaves in her pockets “to enjoy the aroma”.

Hysen says his mother has never visited a doctor. “She is in good health and has never taken any medication.”

Seven children and a loving marriage

Marra’s husband died 36 years ago, but she still smiles when she talks about their decades together. It was an arranged marriage, but a loving one.

“Otherwise, how could I have had seven children with him?” she asks.

Tears well up when she remembers family and friends she has lost. But her face brightens when a niece calls to chat.

“I’ve watched them get engaged, marry and build their own homes and lives,” she says. “When I see people coming and going in the house, I am so happy.”

From her youth, she has kept a single photograph – a nearly 100-year-old picture of a young woman wearing a white scarf just like the one she wears today.

“I was 18!” she says.

Proving the age of “supercentenarians” can be difficult. Many people famous for living the longest come from places where poor recordkeeping and suspected pension fraud are common, according to a study that won the 2024 Ig Nobel prize for offbeat scientific research.

But Marra’s extensive documentation appears to confirm her claim to being the world’s oldest living woman.

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