Lois Judge, left, helping her aunt Susannah Mushatt Jones, during breakfast in Jones' room, in Brooklyn, New York last year. Photo: AP

New York: Susannah Mushatt Jones, the world's oldest person, has died at age 116.

Robert Young, a senior consultant for the Gerontology Research Group, says Jones died at a senior home in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday night.

He said she had been ill for the past 10 days.

The world's oldest man, Israel Kristal, second right, poses with Guinness World Records' Marco Frigatti (right) and his family in Israel in March. Photo: GWR/AP

Ms Jones was born in a small farm town near Montgomery, Alabama, in 1899. She was one of 11 siblings and attended a special school for young black girls.

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Family members have credited her long life to love of family and generosity to others.

Ms Jones became Guinness World Records' official oldest person when 117-year-old Misao Okawa died in Tokyo last year.

Lois Judge, left, holds a 1939 photo of her aunt Susannah Mushatt Jones, right, last year. Jones has died at the age of 116. Photo: Richard Drew

Young says 116-year-old Emma Morano, of Italy, just a few months younger than Jones, is now the unofficial world's oldest person.

The world's oldest man is Polish-born Auschwitz concentration camp survivor Israel Kristal, 112.

AP