Serbian poverty risk rate was at 24.6 pct in 2013,poll shows

SABAC - The poverty risk rate in Serbia amounted to 24.6 percent in 2013, which means that one in four citizens faced the risk of poverty, it has been said at the presentation of a publication on incomes and living conditions in Serbia in 2013, based on figures from the Serbian national statistical office (RZS).

A poll on incomes and living conditions was also conducted in 2014 and the figures will be released in late March this year, since a poll takes about three months to process, RZS Acting Director Miladin Kovacevic said on Monday.

According to the 2013 poll, based on a sample of around 8,000 households, or 20,069 people, the rate of poverty risk in Serbia amounted to 24.6 percent, with the rate of social exclusion at 42 percent - twice as high as in the EU.

The poverty risk and social exclusion levels were very high that year, as more than three million people faced the risk of poverty or notable material deprivation, living in low work intensity households, Kovacevic said.

Only Romania and Bulgaria have similar rates of social exclusion, Kovacevic said presenting the results of the poll, a part of a project funded by the European Commission with technical support from the World Bank.

This is a very complex research and the poll has provided very ample information on incomes, social inclusion and exclusion in the population, inequality, income-based risk rates and the rates of labour intensity, he said.

The rate of work intensity in Serbia was around 13 percent in 2013; Kovacevic said.

The poll is conducted in all EU member states and some candidate countries, and 2013 was the year of its introduction in Serbia.

The poll on incomes and living conditions in Serbia will become a regular...