Living Standards Measurements Study - Serbia 2002 - 2007

However, it should be noted that the image of
poverty is slightly worse than described, bearing in
mind that the data do not fully cover refugees and
IDPs persons and Roma people (or some 8 200
people in collective centres) 1 , the categories of
population which are certainly the most challenged
ones as compared to the local population. Graph 1
may therefore serve only as an indicator as to what
extent the poverty risk of such refugees and IDPs
covered by the LSMS was higher compared to the
rest of the Serbian population.
To expand the sample of refugees and IDP
these categories encompassed all refugees and IDPs
who had such a status at the time of the LSMS as
well as such persons who had a status of the
refugee since 1999, and have now declared
themselves citizens of the Republic of Serbia.
The poverty index of refugees and IDPs
covered by the LSMS, was substantially higher
compared to the rest of Serbian population in 2002.
However, it should be noted that these categories of
population have also seen a considerable poverty
decline in the 2002-2007 period, just as the rest of
the population. The poverty decline was significantly
higher among refugees than it was among IDPs
making the poverty index nearly allign with the
poverty index of the general population in 2007
(7.4 percent versus 6.5 percent). IDPs' poverty
may be further analyzed according to the IDP
LSMS Survey carried out in May and June 2007,
on a sample of 1 962 households across Serbia, of
which 259 households were Roma IDPs.
Graph 1.1. Percentage of poor - refugees, IDPs
and local population 2002-2007
24,0 24,6
7,4
14,5
2002 2007
13,6
Refugees IDPs Local
6,5
Poverty among the Roma was extremely high
in 2007 (Table 2). Almost a half of the Roma
population (49.2 percent) was poor. Nothwithstanding
such a high percentage of the poor, there were 6.4
percent of extremely poor Roma. However, it
should be taken into account that LSMS covered
only those Roma people who were integrated into
the general population (who may be better-off)
while Roma from Roma settlements, who are
potentially most severely affected groups, have not
been covered by this survey. A comparision of
Roma poverty in 2007 and 2002 was not possible
given that LSMS of 2002 did not collect data on
ethnicity.
Table 1.2. Poverty index of Roma people and general population, 2007 (percent)
(standard errors are presented in brackets)
Percentage
of extremely
poor
Percentage
of the poor
Structure of
the poor
Overall
population
structure
Poverty
depth
Poverty
severity
Roma 6.4 49.2 19.5 2.6 13.6 5.5
(3.76) (9.27) (3.48) (1.61)
Overall population,
excl. Roma
0.1 5.4 80.5 97.4 1.0 0.3
(0.07) (0.49) (0.12) (0.05)
Total 0.3 6.6 100.0 100.0 1.3 0.4
(0.12) (0.61) (0.17) (0.07)
Source: LSMS 2007.
Poverty profile in Serbia
11