The world's oldest person has died aged 117

Morano, who celebrated her 117th birthday in November last year, officially became the world's oldest person following the death of 116-year-old Susannah Mushatt Jones in NY in May 2016.

Emma Morano, the world's oldest woman, died in Italy at the age of 117, the country's ANSA news agency reported citing her relatives.

Bava said he last paid his nearly-daily call on Morano on Friday.

Morano's doctor Carlo Bava elaborated on her unusual diet, which she picked up after being diagnosed with anemia soon after World War I.

Last May, that was Emma Morano's response to learning that the Guinness World Record for Oldest Living Person had been passed on to her following the death of the previous record-holder, Susannah Mushatt Jones.

"I didn't want to be dominated by anyone", Morano told the New York Times when she was 115. She passed away quietly, resting in an armchair in her small two-room apartment in Verbania, Italy.

According to the Telegraph, Morano left her husband, who she said was violent, shortly after the death of their only child.

Morano swore by eating three raw eggs a day but also recognised genetics may have had a role to play. Her age has been confirmed and she was the last living person verified to have been born in the 1800s.

Ms Morano went on to support herself by working in a factory making jute bags, then at a hotel, working far beyond the usual retirement age.

According to the Gerontology Research Group (GRG), a group of American researchers focus their work in older persons, the oldest woman in the world is now the Jamaican Vaiolet Mpraoun, born on March 10th 1900. The second Purple Heart, she said, came from shrapnel that knocked out many of his teeth.

In an interview a year ago, Morano speculated that her incredible longevity was a result of her diet.