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The world’s oldest person has died of natural causes at the age of 116.

Jiroemon Kimura who had seven children, 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, and 13 great-great-grandchildren, passed away at a hospital yesterday.

The retired postal worker was born in 1897 – the year Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubilee and Dracula was published.

Mr Kimura said on his 115th birthday he wasn’t sure why he had lived so long.

He said: “Maybe it’s all thanks to the sun above me. I am always looking up towards the sky, that is how I am.”

Misao Okawa at 115 is set to become the world’s oldest living person, while Iranian-born Ghahreman Pardis, a great-grandad from Aylesbury, Bucks, has staked his claim to be the oldest man at 113.

Mr Kimura of Kyotango, near Kyoto, became the world’s oldest living person in December.

Guinness World Records also declared he was the oldest man to have his age fully authenticated.

Guinness editor-in-chief Craig Glenday said: “He was exceptional. He has a place in world history.”