Jimmy Carter, the 39th US president, has died at 100

Jimmy Carter, the former president of the United States, has died at the age of 100, the institute he founded confirmed.

The former peanut farmer lived longer than any president in history, reaching his 100th birthday in October.

Jimmy Carter died on Sunday at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

The Carter Center, which promotes democracy and human rights across the world, said he died on Sunday afternoon at his home in Plains, Georgia.

The Democrat was president from 1977 to 1981, a period marked by economic and diplomatic issues.

After departing the White House with dismal popularity ratings, he rehabilitated his name via humanitarian efforts that garnered him the Nobel Peace Prize.

"My father was a hero, not only to me, but to everyone who believes 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 honouring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs."

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

His wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, died in November 2023.

He has become the oldest surviving US president since 2018, when George HW Bush passed away.

Carter discontinued medical treatment for an unidentified disease last year and began receiving hospice care at home.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden stated that the world had "lost an extraordinary leader, statesman, and humanitarian".

Addressing him as "a dear friend" plus "a man of principle, faith and humility" , they added: "He showed that we are a great nation because we are a good people - decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong."

"The challenges Jimmy faced as president came at a pivotal time for our country, and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans," President-elect Donald Trump wrote on social media.

"For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude."

Former President Bill Clinton and wife Hillary Clinton issued a statement stating that he "worked tirelessly for a better, fairer world," highlighting his humanitarian, environmental, and diplomatic endeavors.

"Guided by faith, President Carter lived to serve others - until the very end," they added.

Carter's administration will be remembered for his difficulties to cope with serious economic crises and several foreign policy obstacles, particularly the Iran hostage crisis, which resulted in the deaths of eight Americans.

However, he achieved a noteworthy foreign policy victory in the Middle East by assisting in the negotiation of an agreement between Egypt and Israel, which was signed in 1978 at Camp David in the United States.

But it felt like a distant memory two years later, when voters handily elected Republican Ronald Reagan, who had painted the president as a weak leader incapable of dealing with inflation and near-record interest rates.

Carter lost the 1980 election by a landslide, winning only six US states and Washington, DC.

In the aftermath of such a crushing defeat, Republicans routinely held Carter up as an example of leftist incompetence.

Meanwhile, many members of his own party either disregarded him or used his presidential failings as proof that their version of Democratic politics or policy was superior.

Today, many on the right criticize Carter's presidency, but as the decades passed, his humanitarian endeavors and modest lifestyle began to establish a new legacy for many Americans.

After departing the White dwelling, he became the first and only president to return full-time to his pre-political home, a modest two-bedroom ranch-style dwelling.

He declined to seek the lucrative after-dinner speeches and book agreements that most former presidents receive, telling the Washington Post in 2018 that he never intended to be wealthy.

Instead, he spent his final years working to alleviate global issues of inequity and sickness.

He also collaborated with Nelson Mandela to form The Elders, a group of world leaders dedicated to promoting peace and human rights.

In accepting his Nobel Prize in 2002, just the third US president to do so, he stated: "The most serious and universal problem is the growing chasm between the richest and poorest people on Earth." FA