Jimmy Carter, the oldest of all American presidents, has died at the age of 100

Former US President Jimmy Carter has died aged 100, the center he founded has confirmed.

The former peanut farmer has lived longer than any president in history and celebrated his 100th birthday in October.

The Carter Center, which advocates for democracy and human rights around the world, said he died Sunday afternoon at his home in Plains, Georgia.

The Democrat was president from 1977 to 1981, a period filled with economic and diplomatic crises.

After leaving the White House with low approval ratings, his reputation was restored through humanitarian work that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

“My father was a hero, not only to me, but to all who believe in peace, human rights and selfless love,” his son Chip Carter said in a statement.

“The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honoring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”

Carter is survived by his four children, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

His wife, Rosalyn, to whom he was married for 77 years, died in November 2023.

After 2018 and the death of George H. U. Bush, he was the oldest surviving US president.

Last year, Carter stopped medical treatment for an undisclosed illness and instead began receiving hospice care at home.

His presidency will be remembered for his struggles to deal with acute economic problems and several foreign policy challenges, including the Iran hostage crisis that ended with the deaths of eight Americans.

However, there was a notable foreign policy triumph in the Middle East when he helped broker an agreement between Egypt and Israel signed at Camp David in the US in 1978.

But that seemed a distant memory two years later, when voters overwhelmingly elected Republican Ronald Reagan, who had portrayed the president as a weak leader unable to deal with inflation and interest rates at near-record highs.

Carter lost the 1980 election. with a landslide victory, winning only six US states plus Washington.

After such a crushing defeat, Carter is often held up by Republicans as an example of liberal ineptitude.

Meanwhile, many in his own party either ignored him or saw his shortcomings as president as proof that their Democratic policies or politics were a better way.

Today, many on the right still deride the Carter years, but as the decades have passed, his humanitarian efforts and simple lifestyle have begun to shape a new legacy for many Americans.

After leaving the White House, he became the first and only president to return full-time to the house he lived in before politics, a modest two-bedroom ranch-style home.

He chose not to pursue the lucrative after-dinner speeches and publishing deals that await most former presidents, told the Washington Post in 2018 that he never wanted to be rich.

Instead, he spent his remaining years trying to tackle the global problems of inequality and disease.