Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg has been named Time's magazine's Person of the Year for 2019.

This year the 16-year-old has become famous as one of the world's most prominent voices on the topic of climate change, and has drawn attention for her initiative urging young people around the world to strike in support of the issue.

The announcement came as Thunberg was speaking at the COP25 Climate Conference in Madrid, where she urged world leaders to stop using "clever accounting and creative PR" and instead to take the real action on climate change.

The Person of the Year title was first awarded in 1927, and this year United States President Donald Trump and the Speaker of the US House of Representative Nancy Pelosi were also among the 10 candidates.