The region of the south and east of Serbia will continue to record the highest poverty risk rate in the country in 2024 - 27,7 percent, according to the latest data from the Republic Institute of Statistics.
Given that the national average is 19,7 percent, the latest results show that the gap between the regions is still large, and that the south and east of the country are still the poorest part of Serbia.
According to the data of the Republic Institute of Statistics, compared to other regions, Belgrade has the lowest percentage of the population at risk of poverty - only 8,7 percent. The region of Vojvodina follows with 21 percent, while Šumadija and western Serbia are at 23 percent.
The poverty risk rate is measured in relation to the threshold, which for 2024 is 35.606 dinars per month for a one-person household. For a family with two adults and two children under the age of 14, that threshold is 74.773 dinars.
When, along with poverty, other forms of social exclusion are taken into account, such as the inability to meet basic needs or access to the labor market - data from the Republic Institute of Statistics show that as much as 24,3 percent of the population in Serbia was exposed to some form of vulnerability, especially in the southeast of the country.
With this, the gap between the regions again proved to be large, and the south and east of the country are still the poorest part of Serbia.
"Južne Vesti" notes that when the Institute calculates poverty and unemployment statistics for 2025, they will have to take into account the wave of layoffs in Niš for the south, which the opposition calls "blackmailing the electorate."
They remind that the plant of the Italian company Benetton in Nis is closing after 14 years, and the workers learned from their employer that they will be declared redundant, which means that they are legally entitled to severance pay and unemployment benefits.
Johnson Electric first denied allegations that it was laying off about 300 workers, and after only a week they confirmed that they started offering employees mutual termination of employment with severance pay. They state that they will reduce the number of employees by 16%, that is, that around 350 workers will be out of a job.
source: Southern news
