Migrations as a special thematic entirety (module) were not covered by the living standard polls conducted in 2002 and 2003. One of the purposes of the 2007 poll was to identify both the qualitative and quantitative the migratory characteristics of the population of Serbia, in order to find out whether there is a correlation between spatial mobility of the population and poverty line.
On the basis of the results of the 2007 poll,[1] it was established that autochthonous population prevails in the total one, i.e., 58.7% of people lived in the same place since birth, while 41.3% of people moved. These data do not depart significantly from the 2002 census data concerning the shares of autochthonous and migrant populations (54.2% and 45.8% respectively).[2] The high share of immigrants in the total population of Serbia is owed to major social and economic changes that took place in the last sixty years. With regard to internal migrations, because of accelerated economic development, the 1950s and 1960s were characterised by mass village to town migrations, while the 1990s will be remembered for forced migrations (refugees and displaced persons) resulting from wars in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The scale and speed of spatial mobility are illustrated by the fact that the share of migrant population in the total population of Serbia has been doubled from the 1948 census to the 2002 one (it increased from 23% to 46%).
The results of the mentioned poll show that the autochthonous population is poorer than the migrant one, which is indicated by the fact that its share in the population whose monthly spending is below the Serbian average is twice bigger.
Looking by sexes, females are characterised by greater spatial mobility and their share in the total migrants is by 20.5% larger than that of males. However, in the structure of the autochthonous and migrant populations according to sex and poverty line, the shares of males and females are almost equal.
The share of autochthonous population in the total urban population is by 10 percentage points greater than that of the migrant one. The autochthonous population accounts for almost two thirds of rural population. In relation to the poverty line, the rural population is poorer than the urban one, particularly in Eastern and South Eastern Serbia, regardless of migratory status.
The multi-member mixed households are endangered by poverty the most, followed by the two-member migrant households and one and two-person autochthonous households. Particularly worrisome is the fact that every tenth elderly one-person household is endangered by poverty.
[1] The sample used in the Living Standard Poll for 2007 consisted of 7,140 households from selected 510 census divisions. Fourteen occupied dwellings were selected in each census division. One household was selected in each dwelling (with the aid of the Kish Table of Accidental Numbers). The size of the of the sample was set for the purpose of collecting 5,000 filled in household questionnaires, with about 30% no response rate. The ultimate response rate was 78%, meaning that the sample included 5,557 households.
[2] The migrant population of Serbia according to the 2002 Census is presented in: Survey SM, 2004, No. 4.
VLADIMIR STANKOVIĆ, Assistant Director of the Republic Office of Statistics
Translated by: Milutin Dovijanić
