Ajka Lokmić, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s oldest living person, celebrated her 110th birthday

Gerontology Research Group is pleased to announce that Mrs. Ajka Lokmić, the oldest living person in Bosnia and Herzegovina, celebrated her 110th birthday in Stari Grad, Sarajevo on 4 May 2024, becoming the second person ever recorded in Bosnia and Herzegovina to celebrate 110th birthday, the first supercentenarian in Bosnia and Herzegovina was ethnic Serb born in Montenegro, Professor Jovan Jovanović (1906–2016), who died in Sarajevo at the age of 110 years, 15 days, while it is assumed that Ajka Lokmić is the first woman in Bosnia and Herzegovina who reached the age of 110.

Ajka Lokmić was born in Bosanski Šamac, Austria-Hungary (present-day Šamac, Bosnia and Herzegovina) on 4 May 1914. At the age of three, she lost her parents, so she and her siblings were raised by their eldest brother Ibrahim in Sarajevo.

At the age of 24, she married Nurije Lokmić, and the couple went on to have four children: Zumreta, Zineta, Nurudin and Šemsudin. Her husband owned a bakery, while she was a housewife.

She has always been a devout Muslim, praying (Fard) and fasting throughout her entire life. From the age of seven until she reached 100, she fasted every Ramadan.

She became the oldest known living person in Bosnia and Herzegovina, following the death of 108-year-old Muška Porobić on 12 March 2021.

She celebrated her 110th birthday with her family, and the delegation of the municipality of Stari Grad Sarajevo, including the mayor of the municipality Irfan Čengić. Municipality of Stari Grad Sarajevo states that Čengić’s visit is a gesture of respect for a fellow oldest citizen and her life story.