Standard of living

Poverty

09.April 2026. NM

Poverty in Serbia: How to live in the red

In Serbia, the average monthly income per household in 2025 was 109.136 dinars, and expenditures for personal consumption of households were 109.787 dinars. How to live in the red in a country where a fifth of the Greek nation is on the brink of existence

Poverty

25.march 2026 MLJ

While Vučić announces salaries of 2.000 euros, Serbia is languishing in poverty

A salary of 2.000 euros and a pension of 750 was presented by Aleksandar Vučić as a long-term goal of the country. While waiting for this goal to be achieved, a fifth of the people in Serbia are living in poverty

Standard of living

05.February 2026. IN THE

"Economic Tiger": How much is the Serbian minimum wage lower than the Montenegrin one

Vučić constantly repeats that everyone is jealous of his fantastic economic success and that's why they want to remove him from power. However, when the Serbian minimum is compared with the Slovenian, Croatian and Montenegrin ones, you can see where Serbia is

The super rich

19.January 2026 KS

Oxfam before Davos: Billionaires getting richer

While one in four people in the world struggle to have enough to eat on a regular basis, and almost half of the world's population lives in poverty, the super-rich are getting richer - in 2025 alone, the wealth of billionaires grew three times faster than before

Standard of living

10.January 2026 KS

Academic plenum: Prices are growing faster than earnings

The prices of basic services and goods in Serbia are growing faster than the increase in wages, warned the Academic Plenum

Standard of living

18.December 2025 KS

Humiliating consumer basket: Per person 233 grams of beef per month

What goes into the average consumer basket and is the average salary enough for it? And how humiliating is all that together for the citizens of Serbia?

Standard of living

04.September 2025 KS

Pensions are convincingly losing the race with wages

Since the progressives came to power, the average pension in Serbia is not even half of the average salary. The real trouble is that half a million pensioners survive on less than 250 euros a month

Standard of living

14.April 2025. B. B.

Economic tiger: Serbia at the bottom of Europe in terms of real GDP per capita

The real GDP per capita in Serbia for 2024 is only 26,6 percent of the average real GDP per capita in the European Union

Conditions of life

08.December 2024 Ruben Kalus (DW)

The Finnish recipe for happiness is called "Sisu"

How is it that Finland is always at the top of the list of the happiest countries? The search for answers takes a long time

The average net salary in May 2024 was 100.170 dinars.

Standard of living

08.November 2024 MJ

Purchasing power and promises: The dinar is worth 29 percent less than five years ago

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, announced that by December 2026, the average salary will be 1.150 euros. How realistic is that? And how much does the salary increase even mean, if you take into account the high rate of inflation

Economy

04.September 2024 Milica Srejić

How much does a dignified life cost?

Is the action "Best price" just a promotional trick of the ruling party at a time when people are protesting on the streets against lithium mining and when the minimum wage for the next year is being decided? It will be 53.592 dinars, which coincides with the amount of the minimum shopping basket, but for May of this year. In addition, the Labor Law, in relation to the payment of the minimum wage, has not been respected in Serbia for years

Representatives of the authorities claim that the price of food items has fallen "strongly".

Economy

24.August 2024 MS

Either the prices have gone crazy or the people earn too little: What is Vučević's pursuit of "fairer prices" leading to?

While the state strives for "fairer" prices, many economists are skeptical about tampering with the market. Assistant at the Faculty of Economics, Aleksa Dokić, tells "Vreme" that Serbia is leading the way in allocating households for basic necessities.

Standard of living

31.July 2024 MS

Average salaries in Serbia and the region: Where did the salary increase the most in three years?

In May, the average net salary exceeded 100.000 dinars, boasted the President of the Republic, Aleksandar Vučić, on Instagram. While he talks about the results of "visionary politics", the reality is a bit different

Standard of living

25.July 2024 TS

Average salary of 100.000 dinars: Statistical overview Vučić Aleksandra

Although Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić boasts an average salary of over 100.000 dinars, 800.000 people in Serbia live in absolute poverty, and 60 percent barely make ends meet. The average "pulls out" a few cities, while in other places they make a living

Life abroad

17.July 2024 MJ/DW

Sad statistics: How many young people from Croatia and Serbia plan to go "over"?

Young people from the Balkans hardly see a future in their native country, according to research conducted in Croatia and Serbia. Young people move out en masse because of high prices, low living standards, housing problems, but also because of distrust in political institutions

Politics

11.September 2023 BG

With Vučić to eat a Parisian - and a quarter of bread

The president announced that on Wednesday, he will go to the store with Sinisa Mali and Tomislav Momirović to have a Parisian breakfast, which will have a lower price from that day along with 19 other products.

Economy

11.September 2023 MN

High prices are here to stay

"I'm afraid the prices are here to stay and we'll have to get used to them." Inflation has eaten an average of 40 percent of our standard in the last three years," says Goran Radosavljević, professor of the Faculty of Economics, Finance and Administration.

What we buy and what we give up

06.September 2023 Milica Srejić

Economic tiger and hungry citizens

The minimum consumer basket for a household of three for the month of May this year was 51.874,39 dinars. With that amount, among other things, it is foreseen that the family can buy 500 grams of hake or 200 grams of lemons per month. Seasonal fruit was not even mentioned, I guess that's a luxury. In short, with the minimum net income from 2023, you could cover the minimum consumer basket, but from 2019. And since 2019, the prices have been going up and up

Economy

21.August 2023 BG

Negotiations on the minimum wage, the height of which has already been determined by Vučić

The current minimum wage is around 40.000. The trade unions are asking for it to be increased to 50.000 dinars already this year. The President of Serbia said that the minimum wage in 2024 will be 400 euros

Standard of living

31.July 2023 AE

Economist: Vienna the best city to live in, Belgrade advanced on the list

Vienna, with its seamless mix of stability, culture and entertainment and reliable infrastructure, tops the list for the fourth time in five years

News

08.October 2022 A.I

Address by Aleksandar Vučić: Sanctions against Russia if the pressure becomes too much

What was new in the presentation of the President of Serbia this time was that he did not predict the apocalypse, Armageddon, the destruction of the world, and the great and Serbian one, but on the contrary: everything is under control, everything is great, the citizens have nothing to fear, there will be an increase in pensions and salaries , there will be electricity and oil and gas and coal and peas

News

22.December 2021 Bogdan Petrovic

Inflationary shock in Serbia: Rising prices and falling standards

As of January 1, the state will increase pensions by 5,5 percent, which at the current rate of inflation means that pensioners' incomes will decrease by 2 percent in real terms. And that's just the beginning, just as drastic price increases are yet to come

Comment

01.December 2021 Radmilo Marković

Freezing prices in Serbia: Doubts about the effectiveness of the measure

It is entirely possible that the Price Freeze Regulation will actually lead to shortages of the products it applies to. The panic of the Association of Serbian Citizens when they hear something like this - from vouchers for basic products, through even-odd driving systems, to bread stamps, shortages of anything and everything and empty shelves in stores