Emma Morano: Oldest person in the world credits long life to being single and eating raw eggs

Her physician says her longevity is a 'phenomenon'

Journalists, relatives and the town mayor will visit on her birthday (AFP)

The oldest living person in the world has attributed her longevity to her decision to remain single after the end of an unhappy marriage.

Emma Morano of Verbania, Italy, was recently announced as the oldest person in the world at 116 years and 169-days-old.

Born on 29 November, 1899, she may be the last living person born in the 19th Century.

Speaking to the New York Times in 2015, she revealed that she believes her long life is thanks to eating three raw eggs a day (she now eats two a day), and to her status as a single woman.

While she said she had "many suitors" after an unhappy marriage ended in 1938, she never remarried, saying she "didn’t want to be dominated by anyone".

Upon being told that she held the title of oldest person alive, Ms Morano told The Telegraph via her caretaker Rosi Santoni: “My word, I’m as old as the hills."

Ms Morano became the oldest living person after Susannah Mushatt Jones, a New York woman, had died on Thursday 12 May. Ms Jones said in 2015 that she ate bacon every day, but never drank alcohol or smoked, and that the key to long life and happiness was to "surround herself with love and positive energy".

Ms Morano's physician says her longevity is "a phenomenon".