US & Canada

World's oldest woman Eunice Sanborn dies in US at 114

Eunice Sanborn at her home in April, at age 114 or 115
Image caption Ms Sanborn credited her longevity to her faith in Jesus, media reported

The world's oldest woman has died in Texas aged 114, US media have reported.

Eunice Sanborn's death on Monday morning was confirmed by a friend and neighbour, the Daily Progress newspaper in Jacksonville, Texas, reported.

The title of the oldest living woman now goes to 114-year-old Besse Cooper of the US state of Georgia, according to the Gerontology Research Group.

The oldest man is also an American: 114-year old Walter Breuning of the state of Montana, the group said.

Ms Sanborn, who claimed she was actually 115 and that the US Census Bureau had erroneously recorded her birth year as 1896, was a homemaker and active member of her church, the AFP news agency reported.

She had been confined to her bed for several years, but was often helped to a chair outside her home in Jacksonville, Texas, where she had lived for 75 years.

She was married three times, her most recent husband passing away in 1979, the Houston Chronicle reported in a 2008 profile. She outlived her only daughter, a friend told the newspaper.

Ms Sanborn took the title of world's oldest woman in November, when French nun Eugenie Blanchard died at 114 on the French Caribbean island of Saint-Barthelemy.

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