Investigation: Strategy of Household Survival

How People Make Ends Meet in Serbia

The long economic crisis has forced the citizens to eat poor-quality food, buy cheaper and second-hand clothes, reduce the use of means of hygiene, smoke cheap cigarettes and drink poor-quality drinks. Cultural needs of majority of citizens (78 per cent) are satisfied by radio and television.

AIM Podgorica, September 17, 2000

(By AIM correspondent from Belgrade)

According to the official statistical data, the average salary in Serbia amounts to less than 90 German marks, while in order to satisfy the monthly minimum of needs it is necessary to have 200 marks. How can people live in Serbia at all? And on top of all that, bridges, roads, apartments buildings are being built. Certain economic analysts compare the situation in Serbia with an ice-berg: on the surface everything seems normal - people live, spend money, drive cars, go out to cafes. But when one looks under the surface, one sees that this is completely unfounded, that people are spending something they have made a long time ago.

Others mention the skill the regime has so majestically mastered in the past decade known as flogging a dead horse: one month there is no money for teachers, but there is some for pensioners, the next there is no money for pensioners, but there is a little for teachers and physicians, and then all over again... Judging by statistics, the citizens have also got used to resorting to this unquestionable skill: when they need to buy shoes, they "skip" paying the bill for electricity, when the electric company threatens with cutting the electric power supply, the citizens mislay the bill for rent or visit the relatives in a village to bring food...

It seems, however, that this virtuosity of the regime and the citizens has been worn out by the length of the crisis. Nowadays even at first sight it is obvious that misery is pressuring the population of Serbia. According to official data on poverty published in the beginning of the year, poverty rate in Serbia has reached almost 30 per cent (it has never exceeded 23 per cent). This means that according to world standards almost three million people are considered to be poor.

In the attempt to resolve the mystery of the difference between income and expenditures of an average household in this country where the income covers hardly one third of the expenditures, that is, to investigate the manner in which the people survive in an apparently hopeless crisis, the Centre for Investigation of Alternatives carried out an investigation titled "Strategy of Survival of Households in Serbia in 2000". The citizens were asked to say how they live and how they assess their economic position. The investigation was carried out in July and August on a sample of 992 households and 1650 individuals in 28 municipalities in Serbia offered a simple answer: "The main way out households seek in reduction of needs", says Milan Nikolic, director of the Centre for Studying Alternatives. "The people give up on everything they can: holidays, cosmetics, high-quality food. Good news is that people smoke less (although only 13 per cent have actually given up this habit), and bad news is that they smoke low-quality tobacco. People seem to be somewhat less thrifty when drinking is concerned (only five per cent have given up on it), but the drinks are also of increasingly poor quality".

The key finding o the investigation could be marked as tragic because 85 per cent of the pollees believe that the quality of their living has deteriorated in the past ten years to such an extent that they experience the life of their families as going to ruin. Only five per cent of them say that their living has improved, while ten per cent estimate that they live the same as before.

Although in the investigation survival of households is not defined in the biological sense, but as an effort to preserve a certain social status which includes certain other needs as well, it proved, unfortunately, that in majority of households the strategy of existence has been reduced to mere survival. Families are, indeed, forced to give up on many vital needs. What is crushing is the fact that two thirds of households are reducing the very fundamental needs. What a decade ago was a normal need is nowadays a luxury. A big part of the population in fact has nothing to give up on any more. The only things they could not give up on is food and the basic means for personal hygiene, although they are forced to economize even when that is concerned: they spend 35 per cent money less on food, almost half of the pollees eat food of poor quality and buy only the necessary and low-quality means for hygiene (61 per cent use only soap, detergent and toothpaste, and 13 per cent of them are forced to even reduce consumption of these products). Among "luxuries" the people were forced to give up on, vacation ranks the first: 67 per cent of the participants last year did not go on vacation outside their places of residence.

Purchasing clothes ranks the second. Citizens of Serbia do not have the money for buying clothes. Following fashion trends is completely out of the question. Only six per cent of the households included in the investigation can afford high-quality clothing without thinking of prices, nine per cent renew their clothing only when they get it as aid, and 83 per cent buy only cheap clothing. In view of the indestructible characteristics of the market to respond to needs with adequate offer, majority of them buy clothing in markets and flea-markets where it is possible to buy cheap Chinese footwear and clothing, especially if one is not "particular" about quality.

The results of the investigation show that not even the Chinese can be of any help to some people: only 18 per cent of the pollees declared that the total income of their households was sufficient to cover expenses of food, clothing and bills. Among those whose income is insufficient, 42 per cent think that they would need three times more money, and 22 per cent of them believe that one to two times more money would be sufficient. Slightly more than one fifth (22 per cent) of the subjects do not regularly pay bills for electricity, heating, rent and telephone.

"Among the middle and the low strata the idea of 'successfulness' is reduced to food, clothing and watching television", says Marija Babovic, one of the authors of the investigation. "In developing the strategy of their survival, the citizens first reduce their needs, grow vegetables in their gardens, unite with relatives or friends, or work illegally, just in order to slow down the inevitable economic ruin and satisfy only the very fundamental needs of members of their household".

For a certain number of households, not even reduction of needs in numerous aspects was an adequate strategy for survival. For instance, 15 per cent of the households were forced to sell their property. Most frequently it was land, vehicles or jewellery, and least of all their housing units.

Lack of money has forced many households to resort to the principle "do it yourself". One of the most common strategy of survival is production of one's own food and drink on private plots, as well as doing all kinds of repairs in the household. This strategy is most prominent in mixed (agricultural/non-agricultural) households, and it is somewhat less present in urban non-agricultural households, although there is a surprisingly big number of households (over one third) which produce food in their gardens for their own needs.

One of the most significant strategies of survival of the population in Serbia is exchange of goods and services between households. Of course, the most intensive is exchange of food products, and services lag far behind it (sewing, repair of household appliances and vehicles, baby-sitting and similar). The tradition of links to the land and subsistence farming and exchange, should trends continue in this direction, at the end of the twentieth century might reach the proportions it had at its beginning. Agricultural and mixed households mostly supply others with food, but they also get the most from others. Working in more than one sphere enables mixed households a better economic status, so they are in the best economic position.

Networks of so-called social support are best developed among non-agricultural households, especially among those with higher economic status, and the most important ones among them are in seeking jobs and resolving health problems. However, investigators warn, the general trend concerning the network of social support is also narrowing down. The general ruin of a big majority of households leads to narrowing down of social contacts, connections, material support More than one third of the participants in this investigation speak about this weakening of social contacts and reduced possibility of relying on friends. Causes of this phenomenon are found in the general crisis, increased engagement at work, but also changes on emotional level (depression, alienation).

Findings of the investigation have not confirmed an established opinion that a significant part of the households live off financial aid received from relatives abroad. In the past year the famous remittances from abroad were received by only nine per cent of households, and only six per cent of households received aid in money from relatives and friends in the country.

Although it is claimed that Serbia is ruled by grey economy and illegal business deals and work which mostly explain survival of the people, results of the investigation show that even this possibility of making up the deficiency in household budget has been significantly narrowed down. While in the past years income from additional work was the privilege of almost 34 per cent of households, nowadays only 26 per cent can brag with it. Within the framework of general crisis which includes the possibility of making an additional income, it seems that there is less and less work, and even if there is – it is not profitable. The total of 63 per cent of the pollees believe that they will not have the possibility of additional earnings, while only 12 per cent of them say that they have a regular income from part-time jobs. It is interesting that more than one third of households claim that the income from additional work is nowadays much lower than before.

Due to general lack of money purchase of household appliances has also been reduced. Refrigerators, freezers, cooking-stoves, washing-machines, were bought ten to fifteen years ago and they still can be repaired. Nobody even thinks about buying new ones. That the crisis has driven people into a corner is deeply felt by the pollees. Discontent is rising among them. The most common is the one caused by the feeling of uncertainty of existence. Half of the participants in the investigation expressed a feeling of helplessness to do anything. They feel that none of the “strategies” could help them to improve their material and social position. Caught in the trap of insecurity and helplessness they turn to the members of their family. But such feelings bring about conflicts in the family, so the most frequent cause of quarrels in the house is money. Almost two thirds of households have occasional or frequent misunderstandings in the family because of money.

Although subjects say that they are affected the most by economic crisis and decline, more than three fifths of the subjects fear for their future economic position, mostly because of deterioration of the situation and feeling of helplessness (67 per cent). But, we would not be what we are (always some “specific quality”) if we had no optimists, too: among them there are 71 per cent of those who think that they were born under a lucky star. Their optimism has no realistic foundations, they rely on others (that they would be helped by family and friends) or on combination of favourable circumstances. Perhaps something like: “imagine better life – and play Bingo and Fonto”. While they are waiting for a miracle to happen, they probably will not notice that the iceberg is melting all the time and that they are drowning in the sea.

Vesna Bjekic

(AIM)