Silveria Martin Diaz, Spain’s oldest living person, dies at 114
The Gerontology Research Group (GRG) is saddened to announce news that Mrs. Silveria Martin Diaz, the oldest living person in Spain, died in Villanueva de la Vera, Extremadura, Spain on 11 September 2024 at the age of 114 years, 83 days.
Silveria Martin Diaz was born in Talavera la Vieja, Extremadura, Spain on 20 June 1910. She married Jose Arroyo and had five children: Paco, Ana Maria, Leo, Inve, and Anastasio.
In 1963, when Talavera la Vieja was flooded by the Valdecanas reservoir, she moved to France and Vitoria, but later returned to Extremadura.
At the age of 109, she fell and broke her femur and had to undergo surgery. On 20 June 2020, she celebrated her 110th birthday, becoming a supercentenarian.
On 25 January 2022, following the death of 112-year-old Josefa San Roman Mateos, she became the oldest living Spanish-born person.
On 7 August 2023, at the age of 113 years, 48 days, she surpassed the final age of Francisco Nunez Olivera (1904–2018), becoming the oldest person ever to lived in the autonomous community of Extremadura. On 5 October, at the age of 113 years, 107 days, she surpassed the final age of Josefa Santos Gonzalez (1906–2019), becoming the oldest person ever born in Extremadura.
Her age was verified by Miguel Quesada, Emilio Ibanez and Eduardo Garcia, and validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) on 16 August 2024.
On 19 August 2024, following the death of 117-year-old Maria Branyas Morera, she became the oldest living person in Spain.
At the time of her death, she was the seventh-oldest living person in the world, and the third-oldest in Europe, behind 115-year-old Ethel Caterham of the United Kingdom and 114-year-old Marie-Rose Tessier of France. Following her death, the new oldest living person in Spain is 113-year-old Piedad Loriente Pérez (born 11 September 1911) of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain.
