‘World’s oldest person’ celebrates 117th birthday and credits ‘two eggs a day’ for longevity

The oldest person in the world is celebrating her 117th birthday today.

Emma Morano was born on November 29, 1899, and is the last known person alive from the 19th century.

The supercentenarian, from the town of Verbania on Lake Maggiore in Italy, revealed the secret to her longevity last month.

“I eat two eggs a day and that’s it,” she told AFP.

“And cookies. But I do not eat much because I have no teeth.”

Mrs Morano has been declared the oldest person alive by Guinness World Records.

She was the eldest of eight siblings and has outlived all of her younger brothers and sisters.

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She said people come from all over the world to visit her.

Despite her age, Mrs Morano only took on a full-time carer last year. She has been bound to a bed for the last year at the small apartment where she has lived for the past two decades.

The mayor of Verbania, Silvia Marchionini, is expected to visit her on her birthday along with relatives and journalists.

A biography has been written in her honour called The Woman Who Saw Three Centuries. The town will also put on a music and dance show to celebrate her life.

Mrs Morano left her violent husband in 1938 not long after the death of her only son at seven months old, living the rest of her life alone.

She made jute sacks in a factory and also worked as a cook.

She became the world’s oldest living person after the previous holder of the title, Susannah Mushatt Jones, died in New York in May.

Her own mother reached the age of 91, while several of her sisters reached 100.