The world’s oldest man has died just over a month after celebrating his 113th birthday.
Francisco Nunez Olivera passed away around 10.30pm on Monday night at his home in the village of Bienvenida in Badajoz, south-west Spain.
He is due to be buried in his native village on Tuesday.
Bienvenida mayor Antonio Carmena confirmed Francisco’s death this morning, describing it as a ‘shame for the entire village and the whole world.’
He told local media: ‘In recent years he has meant a lot to us, he has represented our village and he has helped make us known and loved.’
Francisco Nunez Olivera (pictured) has died just over a month after celebrating his 113th birthday
Local officials declared a day of mourning to mark Francisco’s death.
The Spaniard, who has four children, nine grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, turned 113 on December 13.
He began his anniversary with his traditional sponge cake and glass of milk for breakfast before opening letters of congratulation from around the world.
The widower’s daughter Maria Antonia, 82, was among those who spent the anniversary with him at his home. She was understood to have been with him on Monday night when he died.
Francisco, who has two siblings aged 97 and 93, became the world’s oldest man after the death of Polish-born Israeli Yisrael Kristal on August 11.
The retired farmer, who fought in the Rif War in the first half of the 1920s between Spain and the Berber tribes of the Rif mountains in Morocco, went out for daily walks alone in his home village until he was 107.
He started to read again aged 98 after a cataract operation, one of only two occasions he has been to hospital according to relatives.
Relatives attributed his longevity to a diet based on vegetables he grew on his own land and a daily glass of red wine.
Francisco, known as Marchena because of his likeness to a Spanish flamenco singer who used that stage name, was one of 30 people over the age of 90 among the 2,300 inhabitants of Bienvenida.
Proud daughter Antonia, now his full-time carer, said when he turned 113 her dad was in ‘good health’ and didn’t have any aches or pains or illnesses.
Mayor Antonio Carmona added at the time: ‘He’s an living example of the quality of life in the municipality, but also of the pollution-free skies and countryside and stress-free work of the traditional way of life.’
In an April 2015 interview with Spanish daily El Mundo, Francisco said he would like to live a couple more years despite the fact all his friends were dead and insisted: ‘I know I’m old but I don’t feel old.’
His daughter added: ‘Some days he talks all day and others he sleeps all day.
‘Someone mentioned the idea of taking him to a retirement home once and it made me feel bad.’
With Francisco’s death, the oldest man in the world is now Masazou Nonaka who was born on July 25 1905 and is currently 112 years and 189 days old.
In a statement, Bienvenida Town Hall said: ‘The day we didn’t want to arrive has come.
‘Francisco Nunez Olivera, or ‘Marchena’ as he was better known, has died aged 113.
‘He has passed away in Bienvenida, our village, the village where he was born and which he helped become known throughout the world.
‘He has passed away with the affection of his family and the admiration of those who knew him.
‘The town plans to declare a day of morning in honour of our Favourite Son.
‘Rest in peace, grandfather of the world. We will always remember you.’
Regional president Guillermo Fernandez Vara added on Twitter: ‘Rest in peace good man.’
Until recently, Europe’s oldest woman was also Spanish.
Ana Vela, the third oldest woman in the world died in her sleep on December 15 at a retirement home in Barcelona where she lived.
The former dressmaker moved to Catalonia from her home town of Puente Genil near Cordoba, southern Spain, in the 1940s.
The grandmother-of-four, who also had several great-grandchildren, lived longer than two of her four children.