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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

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