At the reported age of 145, Mbah Gotho from the Indonesian island of Java could be the oldest person on the planet but he is not interested in celebrating.

“I only want to die,” he told Indonesian television station Liputan 6 in August in Sragen in Central Java.

“My grandchildren are already independent.”

Indonesia’s population administration data has recorded his date of birth as December 31, 1870.

Mr Mbah said he has had a tombstone ready since 1992.

If the official documentation is correct, that makes him nearly a quarter of a century older than French woman Jeanne Calment, who had been confirmed as the oldest human, dying in 1997 at the age of 122.

According to Liputan 6, Mr Mbah has outlived his four wives, after the last wife died in 1988, and all of his children.

When asked the secret to his longevity, he replied: “the recipe is sabar lan nrimo" - a reference to an ancient Javanese philosophy that translates to ‘accepting destiny with patience’.

Mr Mbah has never been taken to hospital and suffering lethargy or a cold is the sickest he has ever been, he said.