Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

The rate of poverty risk in Serbia in 2013 was 24.6 percent, meaning that one in four citizens were at risk of poverty, as noted at the promotion of the publication “Income and Living Conditions in Serbia 2013”, produced based on data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (RZS). The Income and Living Conditions Survey was also implemented in 2014, but the data will be published in late March of the current year, since the processing of survey data lasts for approximately three months, said the acting director of RZS, Miladin Kovačević.

According to the 2013 survey data, encompassing a sample of around 8,000 households, i.e. 20,069 persons, the poverty risk rate in Serbia for that year was 24.6 percent, and the rate of social exclusion was 42 percent, more than double the rate in the EU. A similar rate of social exclusion is shown only by Romania and Bulgaria, added the acting director of RZS, presenting the findings of the survey, a result of the “Silc” project financed by the European Commission with technical support by the World Bank.

He noted that this is a very complex survey, and that it provided a large amount of data on income, social inclusion and/or exclusion of the population, inequality, risk rates based on income, rates of labour intensity, etc. This survey is implemented in all EU member states and certain candidate countries, and it was first implemented in Serbia in 2013. As he said, the survey on income and living conditions in Serbia will become a regular annual survey.

Žarko Šunderić from the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit of the Government of the Republic of Serbia believes monitoring such data is important, and furthermore it is important that the survey was based on income, not just spending data. According to his opinion, the survey data will be usable as a basis to create measures that will benefit and impact the living standards of the population.

– Likewise, this will facilitate monitoring whether the measures implemented have effect – said Šunderić.

Source: www.blic.rs