The World's 'Oldest' Person Passes Away at 117

Nabi Tajima, a Japanese woman who was said to be the oldest living person on Earth, passed away at the age of 117 in a hospital in Kikaijima. Ms. Tajima had been hospitalized for several weeks. Kikaijima is one of the cities on Kyushu Island, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands. Nabi Tajima was born in the summer of 1900 in the village of 'Wan,' which has now become a city and changed its name to Kikaijima. Ms. Tajima's husband, a farmer, passed away in 1991 at the age of 95. Nabi Tajima and her husband had nine children. Since 2002, this Japanese citizen had been living in a nursing home in her hometown. According to registered records, Nabi Tajima was the oldest person in Japan and in Asia. After Jeanne Calment from France (122 years and 164 days) and Sarah Knauss from the USA (119 years), Tajima was the third oldest recorded person in the world. With the passing of Nabi Tajima, the title of the oldest living person in the world now goes to Chiyo Yoshida, who is also a Japanese woman and currently 116 years old. Statistics and records related to elderly individuals are registered at the 'Gerontology Research Center' based in the USA. Japan ranks first, followed by Italy, Greece, Germany, Portugal, and Finland, as the countries with the highest number of citizens over 65 years old. According to 'World Atlas' statistics, among the 25 countries with the highest number of elderly citizens, 24 are located in Europe.