Tokyo: Assumed to be the ‘world’s oldest person’, 117-year-old Nabi Tajima, passed away on April 21 at around 8 pm (1100 GMT) at a hospital in Japan.

Tajima was born on August 4, 1900 and became the oldest woman in Japan back in September of 2015. She can be considered as the world’s oldest person as the previous holder of the title, Violet Brown (117) from Jamaica died in 2017, as per Japanese media reports.

A health and welfare official said that Tajima was residing at a nursing centre for the elderly. She became weaker in January after which she was moved to a local hospital where she died on April 21 due to her advanced age.

After the death of the record holder, Guniess World Records had been investigating who indeed was the oldest person in the world and hadn’t yet named Tajima as the true holder of the title.

A Japanese man was, on April 10, named the oldest man alive. Masazo Nonaka is 112-years-old.

Japan is home to several people who live beyond the age of 100 years. According to the Japanese government, there are approx. 68000 people in Japan, who are age 100 or above.