Serbia: Impact and Consequences of Demographic Challenges on Domestic Social Law and Social Security Systems

The author gives an overview of the Social Security System in Serbia, with a special focus on demographic challenges, which have an impact on the proper functioning of the domestic social security system. In recent decades, it has been noticeable that the average length of life in the Republic of Serbia has been increasing. Thus, the legislators decided to adopt certain amendments and supplements to the regulations on social insurance to ensure the sustainability of social insurance funds, especially the Republic Pension and Disability Fund. Therefore, the question arises as to whether changes in the law represent the only solution for the sustainability of the social security system. For the stated reason, the author proposes certain de lege ferenda proposals to ensure the further sustainability of the social security system of the Republic of Serbia. Moreover, the paper will assess the compliance of domestic regulations with certain provisions of the Revised European Social Charter, which our country ratified in 2009 and, thereby, assumed a whole series of obligations related to the further development of the social security system.

KEYWORDS: social security law, social security system, demographic challenges, pension and invalidity insurance, social legislation of the Republic of Serbia.