A 116-year-old woman was declared the oldest person in the world Friday, according to Guinness World Records.

Maria Esther Capovilla, an Ecuadorian woman, was confirmed as the record holder after her family provided details of her birth and marriage certificates, said the record keeping organization.

"We only told her yesterday she was the new Guinness world record holder," Kate White, brand manager at the records publisher tells Reuters. "We hadn't heard of her before."

"She's in very good health, she's got good sight, is able to read the papers and watch television, and doesn't walk with a stick," White adds.

Capovilla was born in 1889 in Ecuador, where she still lives with her son and daughter-in-law. When asked by the Guinness organization what she thought about all of the changes she has seen over the course of her life, she said she disliked the fact that presently it's acceptable for women to pursue men.

Elizabeth Bolden, from Memphis, Tennessee, born August 15, 1890, previously held the title of the world's oldest living person.