Living Standards Measurements Study - Serbia 2002 - 2007

4. MIGRATION IN SERBIA
Migration as a separate module was not
included in LSMS 2002 and 2003. One of the aims
of the 2007 questionnaire was to examine both
quantitative and qualitative migratory characteristics
of the Serbian population in order to see whether
there is a correlation between spatial mobility and
poverty.
Based on the 2007 results 58.7 percent of the
population have lived in the same place since their
birth, while 41.3 percent have moved. These data do
not significantly differ from Census 2002 data (54.2
percent and 45.8 percent). The large proportion of
migrants in Serbia is the result of some serious
social and economic changes occurring in the last
60 years. In relation to internal migration, mass
migration from the countryside to the towns was
prevalent in the 1950s and 1960s due to rapid
economic development. While the last decade of
the 20 th century will be remembered for the forced
migration (refugees and IDPs) caused by the wars in
the former Yugoslavia. The fact that the proportion
of migrants has doubled from Census 1948 to
Census 2002 (from 23 percent to 46 percent)
illustrates the extent of spatial mobility.
4.1. Composition of non-movers and
migrants by age and gender
The data shows the high degree of spatial
mobility of females in Serbia (Table 1). There are a
greater proportion of men in the structure of nonmover
population than women by 8.3 percent while
women have a greater proportion in the migrant
population by as much as 20.5 percent.
Looking at the data it is apparent that almost
two thirds of men (65.9 percent) belong to the nonmover
population, while every third man has
changed permanent residence location at least once.
The proportions of the female non-movers and
migrants are almost equal (51.9 percent compared to
48.1 percent).
The proportion of men in the non-mover
population living below the poverty line is 7.5
percent while the proportion of women is 7.4
percent. One can notice that the figures for both
genders are above the overall level (6.6 percent).
There is difference of only one percentage point in
the distribution of migrants living below the poverty
line (4.8 percent and 5.8 percent). The proportions
of migrants of both genders living below the
poverty line are lower than the average value for
Serbia.
The age structure of the non-mover population
of Serbia is in “inverse proportion” to that of
migrants. Persons under 45 years of age account for
67.6 percent of the non-mover population, while the
proportion of persons older than 45 in the
contingent of migrants is smaller only by half a
percentage point (67.1 percent). The average age of
the non-mover male is 36 and the average age of the
migrant male is 50 years. Migrant females are on
average 52 years old, while non-mover females are
18 years younger on average.
If we examine the year in which people last
moved we conclude that most migrants moved
before 1991, and were aged less than 45 years of
age at the time of moving (Table 2).
Table 4.1. Migration status by gender and current age, 2007
Total
Gender
Age
Male Female 0 - 14 15 - 29 30 - 44 45 - 59 60 +
Total 7 411 000 3 571 348 3 839 652 1 034 669 1 484 292 1 427 720 1 792 178 1 672 140
Non-mover 4 347 469 2 353 638 1 993 831 957 484 1 153 657 828 861 744 079 663 388
Migrant 3 063 531 1 217 710 1 845 821 77 185 330 634 598 859 1 048 100 1 008 752
(percent)
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Non-mover 58.7 65.9 51.9 92.5 77.7 58.1 41.5 39.7
Migrant 41.3 34.1 48.1 7.5 22.3 41.9 58.5 60.3
50 Living Standards Measurements Study - Serbia 2002 - 2007