Milka Bauković, Serbia’s oldest person, celebrated her 110th birthday
The Gerontology Research Group is pleased to announce news that Mrs. Milka Bauković Radivojević, the oldest living person in Serbia and the oldest living woman in the Balkans, celebrated her 110th birthday in Belgrade, Serbia, on 5 February 2025.
Milka Bauković Radivojević was born as Milka Ercegovac in Papići, Sunja, Sisak-Moslavina County, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia) on 5 February 1915 to father Mile Ercegovac (17 December 1894 – 13 August 1981) and mother Inđjija Ercegovac (née Ivčić; 15 May 1895 – 1 April 1981). She had only one brother Branko Ercegovac (1 February 1920 – 27 August 1991).
In 1940, she married her first husband, Dušan Bauković in Jasenovac, Croatia, who died on the last day before the end of World War II on 8 May 1945, and his grave was never found. Together with her husband Dušan Bauković (1909 – 1945), she had two children: son Nebojša Bauković (28 June 1941 – 21 August 1987) and daughter Dušanka Božić (née Bauković; born 8 August 1945). After the death of her first husband, who had previously been involved in the production of hats in Okučani, Brod-Posavina County, Croatia, she continued to practice the same trade until her retirement 35 years later.
In 1983, she married her second husband Savo Radivojević (1912–2003) in Belgrade, Serbia, and they officially moved to Belgrade in 1990.
Milka’s son Nebojša Bauković died in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina from a heart attack on 21 August 1987. His son (Milka’s grandson) was a Dušan Bauković, who was born in Gradiška, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 8 July 1966, tragically died as a member of the Army of Republika Srpska on 26 June 1992. His mother (Milka’s daughter-in-law) Biljana Bauković (née Đorđić) died of grief for son on 1 July 2001.
Milka’s second husband Savo Radivojević died in Belgrade, Serbia on 24 March 2003 at the age of 90 years.
On 5 February 2015, she celebrated her 100th birthday and became a centenarian.
On 3 April 2022, at the age of 107, she went to vote herself and exercised her right to vote. Then she said that she did not miss any elections and that she always went out to vote regularly.
On 6 July 2022, following the death of 110-year-old Tamara Krutikov, she became the oldest known living person in Belgrade and Serbia.
On 17 December 2023, at the age of 108, she exercised her right to vote and voted in local and parliamentary elections as the oldest living citizen of the Republic of Serbia.
On 27 May 2024, following the death of 109-year-old Mara Gabelica of Croatia, she became the oldest living Croatian-born person.
On 13 September 2024, following the death of 110-year-old Fikrije Loki of North Macedonia, she became the oldest living woman in the Balkans.
On 5 February 2025, she celebrated her 110th birthday, becoming a supercentenarian, as well as the third supercentenarian in Serbian history. The first two were Jelisaveta Veljković (1904–2016), the oldest person ever in Serbia, who was also born in present-day Croatia, and Tamara Krutikov (1912–2022), born in present-day Ukraine. Like Bauković, both Veljković and Krutikov spent their later years in Belgrade.