Oldest woman in the world dies

The oldest woman in the world has died in Japan less than one month after assuming the title.

Koto Okubo died on Saturday at the age of 115 at a nursing home in the city of Kawasaki, south of Tokyo, city officials told local media.

Okubo lived in the nursing home with her 88-year-old son, who was quoted in the Asahi newspaper as saying she died of pneumonia. Officials have declined to provide further details.

Born on December 24, 1897, Okubo only became the oldest known woman in the world on December 17, when Dina Manfredini died in Iowa on December 17.

Manfredini had herself only held the title for two weeks.

Japan has one of the longest-lived populations in the world and the number of people aged 100 or older surpassed the 50,000 level in 2012 for the first time ever.