Kane Tanaka is now officially the world's oldest person on earth, as the Japanese lady has celebrated her 117th birthday at a nursing home in Fukuoka in southern Japan.
According to local TV, Tanaka marked her birthday with a party on Sunday along with staff and friends at the nursing home. Footages from local broadcaster TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting Co showed Tanaka, whose birthday was on Jan. 2, took a bite from a slice of her big birthday cake. "Tasty," she said with a smile. "I want some more."
Tanaka was last year confirmed as the oldest living person, aged 116 years 66 days old as of March 9, according to Guinness World Records.
"Tanaka was born prematurely in 1903 and married Hideo Tanaka in 1922," Guinness World Records said. The couple had four children and adopted a fifth.
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Lady Tanaka[/caption]
At the time of Tanaka's birth, the Wright brothers would become the first to achieve powered flight later that year, the first Tour de France bicycle race was held in July 1903, the first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England.
Also at that time, according to reports, there were only 45 states in the United States. Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii had not been admitted to the Union yet. The Titanic had not sunk yet and World War I had not broken out yet.
The second oldest person living on earth is Lucile Randon, 115 years old, of France.
According to Reuters, Tanaka's record age is symbolic of Japan's fast-ageing population, which coupled with its falling birthrate is raising concerns about labour shortages and prospects for future economic growth.
Earlier, official statistics showed that the number of babies born in Japan fell an estimated 5.9% last year to fewer than 900,000 for the first time since the government started compiling data in 1899.
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