The world's oldest person has died in the US at the age of 116.

Susannah Mushatt-Jones died at a senior home in Brooklyn Thursday night, according to a senior consultant for the Gerontology Research Group.

Robert Young also said she had been ill for the past 10 days.

Her death makes Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, a 116-year-old woman in Italy, the oldest living person.

Jones was born in Alabama in 1899 and was the granddaughter of slaves.

Reuters reports she later moved to New Jersey and then New York, where she worked as a housekeeper and childcare provider.

She said the secret to her longevity was lots of sleep, and that she had never smoked or drank alcohol.