According to a 2018 consumer survey, conducted by the State Statistical Office, last year, Serbian households spent an average of 64,481 dinars a month, with more than a third of their money going to food and drinks.
People in Serbia spent 16% of their money on housing and heating and just over 9% on transport. Only 1.5%, the lowest percentage, was spent on education.
The differences in consumption are quite pronounced – in Belgrade, the average monthly consumption of a family was 72,000 dinars, while, in the south and east of the country, the consumption was about 61,000 dinars. In urban areas, the average consumption, in addition to wages, was several thousand dinars higher than in rural areas of the country.
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The largest expense for Serbian citizens is food, on which they spend an average of 22,133 dinars per month. The biggest difference in consumption of food relates to bread – while a family in Belgrade eats 150 kilogrammes per year, in the south and east of the country, people consume on average 230 kilogrammes of bread.
Families in Belgrade consume more beef than in other regions of Serbia, 23 kilogrammes, compared to the average of 9.6 kilogrammes by families in south-eastern Serbia.
The south of the country consumes the biggest quantity of pork – 49 kilogrammes, while people in Vojvodina consume more poultry (60kg). Compared to other regions, Belgrade citizens consume fewer eggs and less milk, white cheese and fat. Last year, an average Serbian family consumed 41 litres of beer, 7.7 litres of wine, 112.6 litres of mineral and spring water and 9.7 litres of coffee.
The difference in consumption between the bottom 10% of the population and the top 10% is nearly 1,000 euro.
That is, the average monthly consumption of households in the first decile in 2018, was 24,356 dinars, while in the tenth decile the average is slightly lower than 150,000 dinars. The average consumption of those of the ninth decile is over 92,000 dinars, so 20% of the richest in Serbia actually spends as much as 60% of other families.
Those segments of the population whose expenses do not exceed 200 euros per month spend half of that money on food, with the remaining 100 euros spent on paying bills, transportation, education, health care, school, leisure, furniture, wardrobe and everything else.
Last year’s minimum wage was 25,000 dinars, but at the beginning of this year, it was raised to 27,000 dinars.
At the same time, the value of the minimum consumer basket in August this year, was 37,000 dinars. A similar situation is with the average consumer basket; in August of this year, its value stood at over 54,000 dinars.
(Danas, 19.11.2019)
https://www.danas.rs/ekonomija/siromasni-trose-200-bogati-1-200-evra-mesecno/
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