Living Standards Measurements Study - Serbia 2002 - 2007

Table 3.2. Age, gender, type of settlement, region and poverty line
Total
Gender
Type of
settlement
2007
Region
Poverty line
Age
2003
2007
Male
Female
Urban
Other
Belgrade
Vojvodina
Western Serbia
Sumadija
Eastern Serbia
South East
Serbia
Above
Below
0 - 14 13.7 14.0 14.8 13.2 13.9 14.1 13.1 14.7 14.4 13.0 13.7 15.0 13.6 19.5
15 - 29 19.4 20.0 21.0 19.1 21.7 17.6 21.9 20.9 19.2 18.8 17.3 19.0 20.3 15.8
30 - 44 18.8 19.3 19.6 18.9 19.7 18.6 19.5 19.4 18.1 17.9 18.7 21.4 19.4 17.7
45 - 59 22.7 24.2 24.1 24.2 24.8 23.3 25.1 24.7 23.9 24.4 23.7 21.8 24.6 17.6
60+ 25.5 22.6 20.5 24.5 19.8 26.4 20.4 20.3 24.3 25.9 26.7 22.8 22.1 29.4
Total
100 percent
The problem of demographic ageing in Central
Serbia and Vojvodina can be best seen through data
on the number of children in households. Compared
to 2003, the proportion of households without
children (aged less than 18) has increased (from 65
percent in 2003 to 66.8 percent in 2007). The
proportion of households with one child is
unchanged (16.7 percent), while the proportion of
households with two or more children has declined
(18.4 percent in 2003 to 16.5 percent in 2007). 2
According to the type of settlement, a slightly larger
proportion of households with one child are found
in towns (17.6 percent in urban areas compared to
15.4 percent in rural) while the proportion of the
households with two or more children is more
prevalent in rural settlements (17.7 in villages
compared to 15.7 in towns). Examing regions in
Serbia, the smallest proportion of households with
two and more children is found in the City of
Belgrade (only 13.9 percent) and the largest is
South East Serbia (the region with the highest
poverty rate).
3.2. Marital status
The distribution of the population aged 15+ by
marital status (Table 3) is very similar to that found
in Census 2002 and LSMS 2003 (however, it is not
completely comparable to the Census which did not
include the cohabiting category).
Demographic characteristics of the population
Table 3.3. Marital status of adults aged 15+
(percent)
Census
2002
LSMS
2003
LSMS
2007
Married 60.4 60.1 57.4
Cohabiting ... 1.9 2.8
Single 24.4 23.3 24.5
Divorced 4.0 3.2 4.0
Widowed 10.8 11.5 11.4
The largest differences between data from
2003 and 2007 were in relation to the legally
married category which decreased by 2.7 percentage
points in 2007, cohabiting increased by 0.9 percent
in 2007), being single increased by 1.2 percent and
divorced by 0.8 percent. These changes follow the
trends observed in the 1990s that there was an
increase in single people, fewer marriages and more
divorces.
It is interesting to compare the overall marital
structure with that of those living below the poverty
line – particularly for cohabiters and widows/ers.
Overall the widowed are 11.4 percent of the
population but 14.5 percent of the poor. This
underlines the already mentioned conclusion that
the elderly in Serbia is threatened by poverty having
in mind that (according to LSMS 2007) more than
one third (35.1 percent) of the widowed are aged
60+ and, according to Census 2002, 45 percent of
45