Mr Annan died in the early hours of Saturday in Switzerland after a short illness, according to a statement issued by his family.
He was the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1997 to December 2006, and became the first black African man to take on the top job as the world’s top diplomat.
He was founder and Chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation.
The United Nations Migration Agency confirmed his death in a tweet, saying: “Today we mourn the loss of a great man, a leader, and a visionary: former @UN Secretary General @KofiAnnan. A life well lived. A life worth celebrating.”
Source: News Corp