Savings in Serbia
The first AikBank survey was conducted in March and April 2026. It explores citizens' attitudes towards savings, money management, and the psychology of saving. A representative sample of 500 respondents from Serbia—all banking product users, including both existing savers and non-savers—revealed that 74% of respondents have some form of savings. Furthermore, the survey showed that money security is a more important factor than the interest rate level when saving with a bank.
60% of respondents regularly set aside money for savings.
Most savers are in the age group of 30 to 39 years.
Women are slightly more likely to be savers than men.
The regions with the most savings banks are Belgrade and Šumadija.
Most savers save for less than 3 years.
Saving period
There is almost an equal percentage of respondents with stable savings habits and those who are just building them:
- 30%: More than 10 years
- 17%: 5 to 10 years
- 20%: From 5 to 5 years
- 29%: Less than 3 years
Savings amount
Every third user says that they set aside approximately the same amount for savings today as they did 5 years ago:
- 34%: About the same
- 31%: Less than before
- 29%: More than before
Motivation
Citizens' savings are motivated by various needs or interests:
- 18-29: Buying an apartment
- 30-39: Parenthood
- 40-64: External circumstances
- 64+: Healthcare
The way to save
The majority of respondents decided on one of the two opposite directions - to immediately set aside the amount for savings, or to leave whatever is left at the end of the month.
32%
at the beginning of the month, the respondent sets aside part of the savings and does not touch it anymore.
23%
at the end of the month, the respondents leave as much money as they have left in the fund.
21%
the respondent occasionally saves when he has extra income.
12%
the respondent occasionally saves for a specific goal.
10%
the respondent has a fixed amount of money.
Barriers to savings
When it comes to the reasons why they haven't started saving yet, the largest number of users singled out motivation as a key obstacle (37%), followed by the discipline not to touch savings (33%) and the perception of having financial opportunities for saving (18%).