Jelisaveta Veljković [Serbian: Јелисавета Вељковић] was born in Ravna Gora, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia), on 18 July 1904. She was born as the second of seven children in an Italian-Austrian family.

At age of 16, she moved to Belgrade, Serbia (then Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes). She lived in Belgrade with her friend, and close to the decorator of the National Theatre in Belgrade, Stanislav Veljković - her future husband. They married when Jelisaveta was 20 years old in St. Mark's Church, Tašmajdan Park. The couple had 12 children.

Her husband died in 1983. She had cataract surgery and was no longer able to watch television due to the surgery. During her final years, she had bad eyesight and she could no longer read. She attributed her longevity to good genetics in her family, her aunt died at the age of 103 years, and uncle at the age of 104 years. She lived in Savski Venac, Belgrade, Serbia with her daughter Zora Antonijević. At the age of 111, she had 10 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. She died on 20 October 2016, at the age of 112 years, 94 days.

Her age was validated by the European Supercentenarian Organisation (ESO) on 17 March 2022, making her the oldest validated person born in Croatia, and the first validated supercentenarian who died in Serbia.

ESO Website

Death report

100th birthday:

At 107 (photo: Blic):

110th birthday:

112th birthday (photo: D. ŽIVANČEVIĆ / RAS SRBIJA):