As Serbia adopts digital welfare system, the poorest miss out

Serbia's Social Card was meant to make benefit payments fairer, but critics say thousands of people in need have been locked out. — Photo by Alex Blokstra on Unsplash

BELGRADE: Jovana Andjela, a single mother from Belgrade, has done odd jobs as a cook, cleaner, even a tour guide, but she relied on state benefits to make ends meet – until last year, when Serbia’s new digital welfare system locked her out.

Anti-poverty campaigners say Andjela is among thousands of low-income Serbians whose benefits have stopped since the government rolled out its Social Card system in 2022 – hailing it as a way to make welfare fairer and tackle fraud.