Saudi Arabia’s oldest known man, Nasser bin Radan Al Rashid Al Wadaei, has reportedly died at the claimed age of 142, bringing an end to a life that is said to have spanned more than a century of the Kingdom’s modern history.
Local media reports say Al Wadaei passed away on January 8 in Riyadh. Funeral prayers were later held in Dhahran Al Janoub, in southern Saudi Arabia, where over 7,000 mourners reportedly gathered to pay their final respects before he was buried in his home village of Al Rashid.
According to Saudi sources, Al Wadaei was born in 1884, long before the unification of Saudi Arabia. If accurate, his lifetime stretched across the reigns of multiple monarchs, from King Abdulaziz, the founder of the modern Saudi state, to the current ruler, King Salman, making him a living witness to the country’s political, social and economic transformation.
Family members described him as deeply religious, saying he performed the Hajj pilgrimage more than 40 times during his lifetime. His devotion and longevity earned him admiration in his community, where many regarded him as a symbol of faith and resilience.
Al Wadaei is survived by 134 children and grandchildren, according to reports. He is also said to have married for the last time at the age of 110, later welcoming a daughter, a detail that further fueled public fascination with his extraordinary life.
However, questions have emerged over the accuracy of his reported age. Saudi Arabia’s average life expectancy is around 78 years, and experts have expressed skepticism about the likelihood of someone living to 142.
Speaking to Metro, Professor David Weinkove, Chair of the British Society for Research on Ageing, said such an age was “very unlikely,” noting that reliable birth records were often unavailable in many parts of the world more than a century ago.
“One of the fundamentals of ageing is that the older you are, the faster you age,” Prof Weinkove explained. “When you get to around 100, your chance of making it to the next year is roughly 50 percent. Reaching 142 would be like tossing a coin 40 times in a row and getting heads every single time.”
While Saudi Arabia is experiencing a growing elderly population due to declining birth rates and improved healthcare, Prof Weinkove added that 142 years old is “a little bit too much to be believable.”
Despite the uncertainty surrounding his exact age, news of Al Wadaei’s death has spread widely across Saudi social media, with many users describing him as a rare link to the past and a man whose life reflected endurance, faith and history.
