A Japanese woman officially certified as the world's oldest person has passed away at the age of 119.
Kane Tanaka, who was born on 2 January 1903, died on April 19, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced in a statement. It is understood she died of old age at a hospital in Fukuoka city in western Japan.
Ms Tanaka was recognised by Guinness World Records as both the oldest person living and the oldest living female in 2019. The organisation said they were saddened to hear of Tanaka's passing, and said the news of her death had been confirmed by senior gerontology consultant Robert Young, who also helped confirm her record as the oldest person alive.
Tweeting about her death, Guinness World Records said: "She became the oldest living person in January 2019 at the age of 116 years and 28 days.
"She is also the second oldest person ever recorded, behind only Jeanne Calment who lived to the age of 122."
Ms Tanaka's death was also confirmed by her family in a tweet in which they thanked "everyone who supported us". In an earlier tweet posted on 13 April 2022, her family said she had recently been "hospitalised and discharged repeatedly", but was still enjoying chocolate and fizzy drinks.
Born in 1903, the same year the Wright brothers made their first successful flight, Ms Tanaka was the seventh of eight children in her family.
In 1922, at the age of 19, she married Hideo Tanaka and would go on to have four children of her own and would adopt a fifth child. Her husband was a rice shop owner and Ms Tanaka worked in the family store until she was 103. She spent her later years in a Japanese care home, where she enjoyed board games and chocolate.
Ms Tanaka twice survived cancer and lived through a multitude of historical events, surviving two world wars and the 1918 Spanish flu - as well as the Covid-19 pandemic. She was selected as one of the torchbearers for the Tokyo Olympic Torch Relay last year but the pandemic prevented her from doing so.
According to CBS News, her daily routine involved a 6:00 am wake-up and afternoons spent studying mathematics and practising calligraphy. She also ascribed her longevity to “eating delicious food”, including soda and chocolate, as well as “learning” new things.
Facts & figures
Japan has the most elderly population in the world, according to World Bank data, with around 28 per cent, or 36 million, of the population aged 65 or over.
Diet, healthcare, and the fact many older people continue to work into their later years have been identified as reasons behind the country's long life expectancies. As the science journal Nature noted, as recently as the 1960s, life expectancy in Japan was the shortest among the G7 countries. However, dietary changes, especially around calcium intake and consuming less salt have led to a lower mortality rate from heart disease and some cancers.
Last year, Japan set a record as the number of those aged 100 and older climbed to 86,500 - an increase of 6,060 from 2020, when the figure first topped the 80,000 mark. 2021 marked the 51st consecutive year of an increase in the number of centenarians according to the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry of Japan.
Of the more than 86,000 aged 100 and over, women accounted for 88.4 per cent or 76,450 - up 5,475 from a year earlier.
With Ms Tanaka's death, the world's oldest person is now Lucile Randon, a 118-year-old French nun.