While Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and the Minister of Finance regularly boast about economic indicators, with the recent shift of responsibility to civil and student protests for the economic decline, every fifth resident of Serbia lives at risk of poverty.
Since they came to power in 2012, the president Aleksandar Vučić and associates from the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) regularly brag about how Serbia has become during their rule economically the tiger and how the country has never had it better.
Students and citizens are to blame for the economic decline that has been recorded since the beginning of the year protests, but they announce an increase in the minimum wage, average salary and pensions.
While they often wave papers that show how good things are in Serbia, the statistics and the personal feeling of the residents do not help them in terms of the country's progress.
Risk rate of of poverty in Serbia in 2024, it amounted to 19,7 percent, while only slightly more than 14 percent of households easily make ends meet.
Life at risk of poverty
According to the latest data published by the Republic Statistical Office, the poverty risk rate in Serbia last year was 19,7 percent, which means that practically every fifth citizen has incomes that are lower than the poverty threshold, which in 2024 was 35.606 dinars for a one-person household.
These figures are different in relation to how many members the household has.
While the poverty risk threshold for a single-member household was 35.606 dinars, for a household with two adults and one child under 14 years of age it was 64.091 dinars, while for a four-member household with two adults and two children under 14 years of age it was 74.773 dinars.
The poverty risk rate represents the percentage of persons whose disposable equivalent income is lower than the poverty risk threshold and, generally speaking, in 2024 it was lower by 0,2 percentage points compared to 2023, i.e. by 0,5 compared to 2022.
The rate of risk of poverty or social exclusion was 24,3 percent, and compared to 2023, it is lower by 2,9 percentage points.
The rate of risk of poverty or social exclusion shows the percentage of persons who are at risk of poverty, or are significantly materially and socially deprived, or live in households with very low work intensity.
11,6 percent of people are at permanent risk of poverty. This means that they were at risk of poverty in at least two of the previous three years.
Who is most at risk?
Looking at the age structure, citizens aged 65 and over were most exposed to the risk of poverty - 23,6 percent, followed by people aged 55 to 64 - 22,7 percent, while citizens aged 25 to 54 had the lowest risk of poverty - 16,4 percent.
Those who are 65 years old and older and live alone, most often live at risk of poverty, namely 36,9 percent, and according to this criterion of household type, households with three or more adults had the lowest rate of risk of poverty - 11,8 percent.
The poverty risk rate according to the most common activity status, for persons aged 18 and over, shows that 50,8 percent of the unemployed were exposed to the risk of poverty. Self-employed persons had a higher rate of risk of poverty than persons employed by an employer, 12,7 percent compared to 4,8 percent. For pensioners, this rate was 21,1%.
Where is the hardest place to live in Serbia?
When the risk of poverty is observed by parts of Serbia, the rate is the lowest in Belgrade, where it is 8,7 percent. On the other hand, the highest rate of risk of poverty is in the south and east of the country - 27,7 percent. Further, Šumadija and western Serbia follow with a rate of 23 percent and Vojvodina – 21 percent.
Observed by gender, women aged 65 and older are at the highest risk of poverty, and the risk rate is 25 percent. As for men, those aged 24,1 to 55 are at the highest risk (rate of 64 percent).
Alone, with a partner or children - who lives the hardest?
When it comes to the type of household, the rates are higher in almost all cases compared to 2023.
As for households without children, the greatest risk of poverty is single-member households, that is, pensioners (65 and older) who live alone - 36,9 percent. On the other hand, the lowest at-risk-of-poverty rate, 11,8 percent, is in households with three or more adults.
Between them are men who live alone (risk rate 34,6 percent), women who live alone (34,4 percent), and those under 65 who live alone (30,9 percent).
The risk of poverty is lower in households with two adults - 20,7 percent. Two people under the age of 65 have an at-risk-of-poverty rate of 20,6 percent. In households with two people, one of whom is 65 or older, the hazard rate is 20,7 percent.
As for households where children also live, single parents are at the highest risk of poverty - 34,5 percent. This is followed by parents of three or more children (29,1 percent), then with two children (20,2 percent), then with one child (16,3), and finally three or more adults living in a joint household with children (13,9 percent).
The unemployed are at the greatest risk of poverty, followed by the self-employed, and finally citizens who work for an employer.
What can people not afford?
Statistics have also measured what people most often cannot afford.
As many as 38 percent of people live in households that cannot afford a week of vacation away from home, 15,1 percent of people live in households that cannot afford meat or fish (or their vegetarian substitute) every other day, 34 percent cannot cover an unexpected expense that would be paid from the household budget, while 9,3 percent cannot afford adequate heating of the apartment.
These percentages are slightly lower compared to 2023, so the rate of material and social deprivation in 2024 was 17,6 percent, while a year earlier it was 21,7 percent.
Can you make ends meet?
RZS recorded the rate of subjective poverty, that is, the ability of households to make ends meet.
Thus, 11,4 percent of households find it very difficult to make ends meet, which is less than in 2023, when this percentage was 13,1.
22,7 percent of households barely make ends meet, and 52 percent have some difficulty.
On the other hand, it is quite easy, easy and very easy for the members of about 14 percent of households.
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