The world's shortest man, as verified by the Guinness Book of Records, has died of an undisclosed illness in American Samoa, a hospital spokeswoman said Friday.

Nepal's Chandra Bahadur Dangi, who was 21.5 inches tall (54.6 cm), died late Thursday at the Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medical Center in Pago Pago.

The 75-year-old lived in a remote village around 400 kilometres (248 miles) from Kathmandu but travelled the world after he was officially declared the world's smallest man, posing for a photograph with world's tallest man Sultan Kosen in 2013.

AFP/TF