Iowa woman is now oldest person in the world

With the recent death of a Georgia woman aged 116, another person has earned the distinction of being the oldest person in the world.

The Des Moines Register reported that Dina Manfredini, 115, of Johnston, Ia., has now assumed the title of being the oldest in the world from Besse Cooper, who died Tuesday in Monroe, Georgia, according to the Gerontology Research Group.

The newspaper reports Manfredini was born in Italy in 1897 and immigrated to the United States in 1921. She worked to help her family -- which included four children -- when her husband was injured while employed at a coal mine in Des Moines in the '40s. Manfredini continued to work in her 90s to earn additional money.

The previous title holder, Besse Cooper, was declared the world's oldest person in January 2011. In May 2011, Guinness World Records learned that Maria Gomes Valentin of Brazil was 48 days older. Valentin died the next month.

The oldest known person of all time was Jeanne Calment, a French woman who lived to be 122 years old and died in 1997.