Living Standards Measurements Study - Serbia 2002 - 2007

ecorded in Vojvodina (15.2 percent) while the
share of households living in recently built
dwellings (after 1991) is highest in Belgrade (13.0)
and the lowest in Sumadija. The data show that the
age of the housing stock is closely related to the
migratory flows in Serbia. The complementary
processes of industrialization and urbanization had a
stimulative effect on the housing construction
dynamic and because of that the “regional” shares
of households in housing units built in the period
1971-1990 were large. Favourable housing loans
and the inflow of foreign remittances from Serbians
working abroad also stimulated housing
construction in that period. At that time, unlike the
period after 1991, Sumadija had the greatest share,
since more than a half (50.5 percent) of its housing
stock was created in the 1970s and 1980s. The
collapse of “Zastava” and other important industrial
companies in Sumadija ceased the immigration
flows to the urban centres in this area, slowing
down the speed of home building (which declined
to 7.9 percent after 1991).
Belgrade with suburban municipalities, as the
political, administrative, economic and cultural
centre of Serbia, has understandably the greatest
gravitational power for economic and migration
flows owing to which its share of apartments built
after 1991 is greater than in other regions. Larger
urban areas, especially Belgrade as the capital,
represent real “oases” of grey economy and illegal
residential construction during the unrestrained
transitional times, they are especially appealing to
refugees and IDPs, as well as to other socially
disabled groups looking for existential refuge in big
urban centres.
Households in Serbia are almost completely
covered by electricity (99.8 percent), both in urban
and other settlements. Installations for running
water exist in 95.2 percent of households, although
the supply is slightly worse in rural (88.8 percent)
than urban (99.4 percent) areas. Access to running
water is much higher in households above the
poverty line (96.7 percent) than in households
below the poverty line (71.2 percent). The situation
is similar with sewage facilities, 98.2 percent of
households in urban settlements have sewerage
facilities and 83.2 percent in non urban settlements.
There is a discrepancy between poor and non-poor
households in this respect since only 58.4 percent of
poor household have sewage facilities compared to
94.4 percent of non-poor households.
As expected, telephone is much more
accessible to the urban area households (93.3
percent) than rural area households (73.4 percent),
and this difference is even greater between the
households above and below the poverty line in
favour of the non-poor households (87.5 percent
compared to 51.5 percent).
In relation to gas connections Vojvodina, first
of all owing to its geographical position and natural
conditions, has the biggest number of households
linked to gas (29.1 percent) compared to the
national average of 11 percent. In central Serbia the
greatest share of households whose apartments are
connected to the gas pipeline are in Sumadija (7
percent) and Belgrade (around 5 percent). Other
parts of Serbia have insignificant coverage (less
than 1 percent).
Data on central heating highlights Belgrade
(with 57.1 percent) as the region most supplied with
this convenient type of heating. The households
least supplied with central heating are in South East
Serbia (only 18.2 percent). Belgrade households are
also above average equipped with other installations
in residential dwellings such as cable TV, satellite
dish, intercom and security systems.
Differences in the quality of equipment level
of residential dwellings in urban and other
settlements indicate a much higher standard of
living in the urban households. A higher share of
rural households use solid fuel for their heating
(84.1 percent) and the incidence is even higher in
poor households (85.6 percent).
Housing conditions and possesion of durable goods
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