Serbia and Montenegro : Poverty Assessment, Volume 1. Executive Summary

This Poverty Assessment is the first output of a multi-year program adopted by the World Bank to assist the Governments of Serbia and Montenegro in the development and implementation of their Poverty Reduction Strategies. The program relies on collaboration in joint data production and analysis. Based on data collected in 2002, the report finds that absolute material poverty affects every tenth person in both Serbia and Montenegro. From an historical standpoint, this is a very high incidence. Inequality remained moderate by regional standards, and as a result poverty is shallow. At the same time vulnerability--or exposure to negative shocks and inability to cope with them-- threatens many currently non-poor individuals. At least as many suffer from deprivation in other dimensions of well being, such as health, education, housing, social inclusion or property rights. Material poverty, therefore, is not the only challenge for the Governments. Four factors are most strongly related to poverty: low education attainment; joblessness; the location in rural areas and depressed regions, and the presence of socially disadvantaged members (such as internally displaced persons or Roma). The poor are found to face serious problems of access to public services (health, education, sanitation) and suffer disproportionately from the deterioration in the quality of public service provision. Even though some of the social assistance programs are among the best targeted programs in the region, the social protection system as a whole suffers from large exclusion errors. Given the high level of vulnerability of the population and the shallowness of poverty, a broad-based growth strategy that ensures that the benefits accrue at least proportionately to the poor is central for accelerated poverty reduction. Improvements in the business climate will stimulate private sector growth and feed into employment generation. Growth will increase fiscal revenues to remedy the problems of chronic under funding, while structural and public administration reforms will strengthen the governance and the quality of services provided to the poor. The multidimensional nature of poverty requires concerted and well coordinated action in different sectors. The report is organized in two volumes. Volume One (Executive summary) summarizes the Report content. Volume Two (Main report) provides detailed results of poverty analysis. Due to data limitations the sectoral part of the main report covers Serbia in greater details. An analysis of available data for Montenegro is presented in a background paper.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	World Bank
Format:	Poverty Assessment biblioteca
Language:	English English
Published:	Washington, DC 2003-11-13
Subjects:	ABSOLUTE POVERTY, ABSOLUTE POVERTY LINES, ANALYTICAL WORK, AVAILABLE DATA, AVERAGE POVERTY, BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT, CAPACITY BUILDING, CHRONIC POVERTY, CLIMATE, CONSUMPTION PATTERNS, DATA COLLECTION, DEBT, DEMOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE, DEMOGRAPHICS, DISCRIMINATION, DURABLE GOODS, ECONOMIC GROWTH, ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT, ECONOMIC MEMORANDUM, ECONOMIC REFORMS, ECONOMIC SHOCKS, EDUCATION, EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT, EMPLOYMENT, EMPLOYMENT STATUS, ENTITLEMENTS, ETHNIC MINORITIES, EXCHANGE RATE, EXCLUSION ERRORS, EXTREME POVERTY, FAMILIES, FEMALE-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS, FISCAL POLICIES, FOOD BASKET, FOOD POVERTY LINE, FOOD SECURITY, GDP, GENDER EQUITY, GINI INDEX, HEALTH, HEALTH CARE, HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION, HOUSEHOLD HEAD, HOUSEHOLD SIZE, HOUSEHOLD SURVEY, HOUSING, HOUSING CONDITIONS, HOUSING POVERTY, HUMAN CAPITAL, HUMAN WELFARE, ILLITERACY, IMPORTS, INCIDENCE OF POVERTY, INCOME, INCOME POVERTY, INFLATION, INFORMAL SECTOR, INNOVATION, INSTITUTIONALIZATION, INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, LABOR FORCE, LABOR FORCE SURVEY, LABOR MARKET, LIVING STANDARDS, LOCAL RESEARCHERS, MARKET EXCHANGE, MEASURED POVERTY, MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS, MULTIVARIATE TECHNIQUES, NATIONAL POVERTY, NATIONAL POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGIES, NUTRITION, OUTPUT DECLINE, PENSION SYSTEM, POLICY DIALOGUE, POLICY ISSUES, POOR, POOR HOUSEHOLDS, POOR POPULATION, POPULATION GROUP, POVERTY ANALYSIS, POVERTY ASSESSMENT, POVERTY ASSESSMENT WORK, POVERTY DEPTH, POVERTY FOCUS, POVERTY GAP, POVERTY HEADCOUNT, POVERTY LINE, POVERTY LINES, POVERTY MAP, POVERTY MEASURES, POVERTY PROFILE, POVERTY RATE, POVERTY RATES, POVERTY REDUCTION, POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGIES, POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY, POVERTY RISK, POVERTY RISKS, POVERTY WORK, PRIVATE SECTOR, PRO-POOR, PRO-POOR GROWTH, PRODUCERS, PROPERTY RIGHTS, PUBLIC ACTION, PUBLIC EXPENDITURE, PUBLIC EXPENDITURE REVIEW, PUBLIC SERVICE, PUBLIC SERVICE PROVISION, PUBLIC SERVICES, REFORM PROGRAM, REFUGEES, REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS, REGIONAL DISPARITIES, RISK FACTORS, RURAL AREAS, RURAL HOUSEHOLDS, RURAL POVERTY, SAFETY, SAFETY NET, SOCIAL ASSISTANCE, SOCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS, SOCIAL CAPITAL, SOCIAL EXCLUSION, SOCIAL INCLUSION, SOCIAL ISSUES, SOCIAL POLICIES, SOCIAL POLICY, SOCIAL PROTECTION, STANDARD OF LIVING, STATISTICAL OFFICES, STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT, TAX REFORMS, UNEMPLOYMENT, URBAN AREAS, VULNERABLE GROUPS, WAGES POVERTY ASSESSMENT, POVERTY MEASUREMENT, POVERTY MONITORING, SOCIALLY DISADVANTAGED, SOCIAL ISOLATION, INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE, EXTERNAL SHOCKS, ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES, EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT, PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY, SERVICE QUALITY, SOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEMS, EMPLOYMENT GENERATION, GOVERNANCE, STRUCTURAL REFORMS, ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/11/2811414/serbia-montenegro-poverty-assessment-vol-1-2-executive-summary http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14660
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