World’s Oldest Person Confirmed Dead At 116

A Japanese woman, Tomiko Itooka, globally recognised as world’s oldest person, has died, aged 116.

Ashiya, the city where she lived, announced her death on Saturday.

The southern city’s mayor, Ryosuke Takashima, in a statement said Itooka, who had four children and five grandchildren died on December 29 at a nursing home where she resided since 2019.

The deceased was born on May 23, 1908, in the commercial hub of Osaka, near Ashiya, four months before the Ford Model T was launched in the United States.

She was recognised as the oldest person in the world after the August 2024 death of Spain’s Maria Branyas Morera at age 117.

“Ms Itooka gave us courage and hope through her long life. We thank her for it,” Ashiya’s mayor said in the statement.

The statement added that Itooka, who was one of three siblings, lived through world wars and pandemics as well as technological breakthroughs.

According to the mayor’s statement, in Itooka’s older age, she enjoyed bananas and Calpis, a milky soft drink popular in Japan.

Women typically enjoy longevity in Japan, but the country is facing a worsening demographic crisis as its expanding elderly population leads to soaring medical and welfare costs, with a shrinking labour force to pay for it.