Popular New Zealand cartoonist and Footrot Flats creator Murray Ball has died aged 78.

Ball was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and he was under care at his Gisborne home in New Zealand, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Murray Ball, creator of Footrot Flats, has died aged 78. (AFP)

The artist's friend and collaborator, Tom Scott, told the Herald he received news of Ball's death this afternoon.

"I know he had been ill," Mr Scott said.

"He was being nursed at home for a terrible illness."

Ball was best known for creating the Footrot Flats comic strip, which ran in newspapers across the world from 1976 until 1994.