Living Standards Measurements Study - Serbia 2002 - 2007

support from authorities to fill in applications for
claims.
Of those who applied, 61% of the poor and 37%
of the non poor received MOP during the last 12
months. For those respondents who received MOP
the average length of time they had been receiving
payments was two years and eight months (with
virtually no differences between poor and non poor
households).
Only 6.7 percent of poor households applied
for humanitarian aid in the previous 12 months
(none of the non poor households claimed). Of the
poor households who applied, 38% actually
received humanitarian support during the last twelve
months. An extremely small number of poor
households applied for a one-off municipal cash
subsidy (4.3 percent) and of these a tiny minority
were successful in receiving it (1.2%). Only 10
percent of poor households in the survey used the
CSW in the last 12 months (compared to 3% of non
poor households).
Table 6.3. Reasons why respondents did not take up a particular benefit by poverty status
Didn’t know about
the benefit
Don’t know how to
apply
I know I don’t meet
the criteria
I don’t need this
benefit
Admin procedure is
too complicated
One time municipal cash
MOP
Humanitarian Aid
subsidy
Poor Non Poor Poor Non Poor Poor Non Poor
22 19 23 16 28 22
27 7 29 7 29 6
21 27 20 26 16 23
17 42 17 48 15 44
12 5 12 4 9 4
100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Where columns don’t add to 100% this is due to a small percentage of “other” answers.
6.1.8. Conclusion
The proportion of households receiving some
sort of benefit was lower in 2007 than in 2002 (18
percent in 2002 and 14.7 percent in 2007). This
reduction is mainly the result of the reduction in the
number of households receiving child allowance,
one-time municipal cash subsidies and humanitarian
aid
When examining only poor households, the
proportion that has received some sort of benefit
increased by 12.4 percent in the last five years.
There has been a significant increase in the number
of poor households receiving attendance and
assistance allowance, veterans and disabled veterans
allowance, MOP, child allowance, parents
allowance and alimony.
There has been a reduction in the number of
poor households receiving humanitarian aid (by
94.3 percent in 2007 compared to 2002) and those
receiving one-time municipal cash subsidies (61.5
percent reduction).
Approximately 50 percent of poor households
are not particularly well informed about the
possibilities of receiving certain types of benefits.
Social welfare in Serbia
75