Staying single is why I'm world's oldest person – Woman, aged 116

Emma Morano, aged 116, who attributes her extraordinarily long life to staying single and eating two raw eggs a day, has become the oldest person in the world.

Morano takes the crown following the death of American Susannah Mushatt Jones, who was four months her senior. Jones passed away in New York on Thursday.

In spite of her advanced years Moreno still lives independently in her small, two-roomed home overlooking Lake Maggiore in Verbania, Piedmont, Northern Italy.

She does not require any home help, but is visited each morning by one of her relatives who helps prepare her meals.

In the past she has put her extraordinary longevity down to the two raw eggs she drinks each day.

'I have three eggs a day, two raw and one cooked,' she said, explaining that she had started to consume the raw eggs after her doctor diagnosed her with anaemia 90 years ago.

She also credits the fact that she has been single since she separated from her husband in 1939 as another important factor contributing to her extraordinarily long life.

'I didn’t want to be controlled by anyone anymore,' she explained during an interview with the New York Times last year.

Born on November 29th 1899, Morano is the only known person left on earth to have been born in the 19th century.

Until 1954, she worked in a local factory which produced jute - the fabric used to make burlap. She then spent 20 years working in the kitchens of a nearby boarding school until retiring in 1974.

Three years ago, when she was declared he oldest woman in Europe, aged 114, she told La Stampa she was surprised to have made it so far.

'Who would have thought it?' she mused. 'I don’t know what to tell, for you…it’s fascinating, obviously, but for me it’s just another day.' - The Local.