Jakarta Globe, AFP, Apr 01, 2015
Tokyo. The
world’s oldest person, Misao Okawa, died in Japan on Wednesday, a month after
celebrating her 117th birthday.
The nursing
home where she lived in Osaka said she breathed her last around 7 a.m.
On the
occasion of her birthday early last month, Okawa, a mother of three,
grandmother of four and great-grandmother of six, was one of only a handful of
people still alive who had been born in the 19th century.
Her birth
on March 5, 1898 predated the Wright brothers’ first powered human flight by
five years, she was already a teenager when World War I broke out and in her
70s by the time of the first moon landing.
When she
turned 114, she was officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the
oldest woman in the globe.
Japan,
known for the longevity of its people, is home to the world’s oldest man —
Sakari Momoi, who celebrated his 112th birthday in February.
In 2013,
life expectancy for women in Japan was 86.61, the longest in the world followed
by Hong Kong women, according to the health ministry.
For men it
was 80.21, the fourth longest, after men in Hong Kong, Iceland and Switzerland.
The world’s
oldest person is now believed to be American Gertrude Weaver, who is reportedly
116 years old.
Agence France-Presse
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