"Those who were extremely poor or less markedly poor or poor enough, they live today significantly better and the poverty rate is incomparably lower", said Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in one of a series of guest appearances on Pink TV.
According to the data of the Republic Institute of Statistics in 2023, the risk rate of of poverty it was 19,9 percent and, compared to 2022, it was lower by 0,3 percentage points.
However, what do these data mean and has poverty really been reduced?
Absolute poverty is no longer measured
Initiative A 11 Advocacy Coordinator Marko Vasiljević told "Vreme" that the question is how statistically significant are the numbers at our disposal, that is, to what extent do they reflect the real situation on the ground.
"We have stopped measuring absolute poverty, and that data is a very important indicator of how many citizens we have who cannot meet their basic needs for food, clothing and a roof over their heads," indicated our interlocutor.
By the end of 2021, the Government of Serbia had a Team for Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction that measured absolute poverty. However, since that body no longer exists, and according to the words of our interlocutor, there is no will to form it again, so we do not know how many absolutely poor people there are in Serbia.
"We measure what is called 'relative poverty'. Relative poverty shows us how poor we are in relation to some standard that exists in a certain country. In this case, in our country. So being relatively poor in a European Union country and being relatively poor in Serbia are not the same thing because we measure in relation to a national standard," explains Vasiljević.
Why is it important to have accurate data?
Therefore, in this way, we could create policies and measures to eradicate this problem, explains our interlocutor.
"Why did the measurement of absolute poverty actually stop? The Republic Institute of Statistics answers this question that it is a consequence of harmonization with the European statistical system and the harmonization of some supposedly internationally comparable methodology", he points out.
However, according to Vasiljević, this would not be an obstacle if there was a political will to engage in a sincere fight against poverty.
For years, the Government of Serbia has not adopted a Strategy for the fight against poverty, as well as a Social Protection Strategy, our interlocutor points out and adds: "The question arises to what extent the Government is determined in the direction of solving these problems."
UNICEF: 800.000 absolutely poor in Serbia
Unicef estimated that around 800.000 citizens live in absolute poverty in Serbia.
Vasiljević says that although these estimates are not entirely reliable, if they exist and indicate such dramatic data of an increase in the number of people living in absolute poverty, then this is an additional reason that the Bureau of Statistics should decide to consider the possibility of re-monitoring absolute poverty.
"Such a large number of the absolutely poor in Serbia certainly deserves the attention of us who deal with that problem, i.e. we work directly with people living in extreme poverty, but above all the institutions that would have to take appropriate measures, to adopt strategic documents, to revise the existing model of social protection and social support for those people who find themselves in that situation", emphasizes Marko Vasiljević.
And he concludes: "We cannot be without any reaction and completely blind to such dramatic data. This is exactly why it would be important that, given the otherwise low standard of living in Serbia, we continue to monitor the number of the absolutely poor."
