Three sisters have been recognised as the world’s oldest living sibling trio with a combined age of 316 years.
The extraordinary record was confirmed by global research organisation LongeviQuest following a meticulous process in South America.
Eldest sister Levita de Deus Nunes leads the trio at 108 years old, followed by her younger sisters Zoraide de Deus Mota, 104, and Zulina de Deus Nunes, 103.
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The supercentenarian siblings were born in the rural district of Cedro de São João in the north-eastern Brazilian state of Sergipe.
Daughters of Manoel and Jovelina de Deus Nunes, the sisters grew up in a family of eight siblings raised on values of unity, discipline, hard work and solidarity.
Born in June 1917, Levita spent her youth managing the family home before moving to Rio de Janeiro in 1953 where she worked behind the scenes for national broadcaster Rede Globo.
Zoraide, born in November 1921, defied the traditional gender norms of her generation by qualifying as a primary school teacher before graduating from the prestigious Anna Nery School of Nursing.
She married, raised five children, and overcame the loss of two of them while inspiring her family’s future generations into medicine and law.
The youngest of the trio, Zulina, was born in March 1923 and used her artisan embroidery skills to fund university educations for all six of her children after migrating to Rio in 1952.
She remains remarkably independent, cooking, performing household tasks and serving as matriarch to nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Despite enduring personal losses, economic hardships, and global upheaval over the last century, the sisters have remained inseparable.
LongeviQuest, the leading global authority on extreme longevity, has validated their record following detailed family documentation and interviews, as reported by Need To Know.
Researchers Iara Souza and Gabriel Ainsworth stated that they represent the power of lifelong sisterhood.
While the trio currently dominate the living records, they are still chasing the all-time historic sibling age record of 325 combined years held by the American Renfro sisters until 2009.
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