116-year-old Italian woman seen as last living person born in 1800s

15 May 2016 12:02 PM IST

Emma Morano is believed to be the last surviving person in the world born in the 1800s.

Surrounded by relatives and friends, Italy's Emma Morano greeted with a smile the news that she, at 116, is now the oldest person in the world.
The beauty of Emma is that it is normal that she smiles, but also in difficulties, she is very decisive, said her doctor as he praised her emotional stability.
She has been in stable health for years, Bava said, with no chronic ailments. ' Her longevity is a genetic fact, nothing else,' Bava said. She is a person who from a young age had a difficult life that would have sapped the energy out of anyone.'
Her physician of 23 years, Dr Carlo Bava, delivered the news earlier that she was officially the world's oldest person. The doctor said Morano has never had a very balanced diet, relying mostly on animal protein, the occasional banana and grapes in season.
Morano lives in a neat one-room apartment, which she no longer leaves, and is kept company by a caregiver and two elderly nieces.
Journalists descended upon Morano's home in Verbania, a northern Italian mountain town overlooking Lake Major, to document her achievement, but had to wait until she finished a nap to greet her.
Not only that, but Morano is believed to be the last surviving person in the world born in the 1800s, with a birth date of November 29, 1899.

Surrounded by relatives and friends, Italyâ€™s Emma Morano greeted with a smile the news that she, at 116, is now the oldest person in the world.

Emma Morano is believed to be the last surviving person in the world born in the 1800s.