France's oldest woman Maria Richard dies aged 111

France's oldest woman Maria Richard has died at the age of 111, the retirement home where she lived said on Thursday.

The Belgian-born Richard passed away overnight in the home at Beziers in southern France, where she had been living since 2010.

She became France's oldest woman when Paule Bronzini died at the end of August, just one and a half months after feting her 112th birthday.

Richard was born on November 26, 1900 in Belgium and acquired French nationality. She refused to let herself be photographed in the past few years.

The world's oldest woman and oldest person is 116-year-old Besse Cooper of the United States.