Oslo: Norway’s oldest woman, Gunda Harangen, who had attributed her longevity to celibacy and her daily glass of cognac, has died at the age of 109.

Harangen, the eldest of seven children, was born on December 28, 1898.

In a 2006 interview on the secret of her longevity, she said she believed she had lived so long because she drank one glass of cognac every day and did not have a man in her life.

She passed away in her sleep on November 25, her nephew told the local Laagendalsposten daily in south-eastern Norway.