Living Standards Measurements Study - Serbia 2002 - 2007
Living Standards Measurements Study - Serbia 2002 - 2007
Living Standards Measurements Study - Serbia 2002 - 2007
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5.5. Conclusion<br />
1. Most households live in houses, then apartments<br />
in residential buildings while only an<br />
insignificant number of households live in<br />
premises not intended for living. Ownership over<br />
residential dwellings is widespread in <strong>Serbia</strong>,<br />
only a little less than one tenth of the housing<br />
stock exists is rented.<br />
2. Households living above the poverty line mainly<br />
live in residential dwellings built in the 1970s<br />
and 1980s while households below the poverty<br />
line mostly live in older dwellings, built in the<br />
period after World War 2 up to the beginning of<br />
1970s. The standard of apartments of the poor<br />
households is far behind those of households<br />
living above the poverty line both in relation to<br />
additional rooms (bathroom, kitchen and toilet)<br />
and the existence of water and sewage systems.<br />
3. Most households in rural settlements and poor<br />
households are heated by solid fuel while in<br />
urban settlements most households are heated by<br />
central heating. The use of solid fuels is largest<br />
in West and SE <strong>Serbia</strong> and least in Belgrade<br />
(where central heating is the most frequent type<br />
of heating). The economic gap between the poor<br />
and non-poor households is most clearly<br />
reflected in access to the more convenient<br />
heating systems. Households above the poverty<br />
line use central heating over six times more and<br />
gas almost three times more than poor<br />
households. Such large differences may be the<br />
result of the lack of infrastructure in rural areas,<br />
as well as the old and inadequate construction<br />
features of the housing stock occupied by poor<br />
households. However, since there is almost<br />
complete electricity coverage in <strong>Serbia</strong> the two<br />
times lower share of the poor in the use of this<br />
type of energy for heating gives a clear<br />
demonstration of the economic gap of<br />
households living above and below the poverty<br />
line.<br />
4. In relation to durable goods, besides some of the<br />
goods a standard inventory of every household<br />
(oven, refrigerator) differences between poor and<br />
non-poor households are quite noticeable. This is<br />
especially evident with regard to the possession<br />
of appliances such a dishwasher, air conditioner,<br />
microwave oven, video recorder and personal<br />
computer. The average age of household<br />
appliances and cars is rather high and there are<br />
no significant differences between regions or<br />
type of settlement. It should be noted that no<br />
poor households own durable goods that are<br />
under one year old.<br />
5. There is a higher proportion of total expenditure<br />
on electricity, telephone and utilities for<br />
households living below the poverty line,<br />
especially for the poorest households.<br />
6. Several months of unpaid bills clearly show that<br />
some households are overburdened by basic<br />
housing expenditures. The fact that for every<br />
fifth household living below the poverty line<br />
electricity expenditure exceeds the 10 percent of<br />
its total expenditure points to the very low<br />
standard of living of these households<br />
Endnotes, Part 5<br />
1 The data in this text can be found in Annex 1.<br />
2 The owner or co-owner is the household member who owns<br />
the house/apartment or part of the house/apartment.<br />
3 Households renting the whole apartment on average pay 9299<br />
dinars rent per month.<br />
4 Subtenant households above the poverty line on average pay<br />
9217 dinars rent per month, while the average monthly<br />
amount for rent of subtenant households below the poverty<br />
line is 1950 dinars.<br />
5 According to the LSMS <strong>2007</strong> every household owns an oven.<br />
6 Price index I=∑Pn/Po*Wo/∑Wo, Pn is the average price<br />
during the current period, Po is the average price during the<br />
reference period, Wo is the value of quantities sold during the<br />
base reference period.<br />
7 Expenditure for utilities includes water, garbage disposal and<br />
central heating.<br />
Housing conditions and possesion of durable goods<br />
67