Introduction

The major goal of current research is to determine the general frequency of buying organic food and the elementary demographic features of typical consumers of organic food. Besides, the potential differences in gender, age, the level of education, material and marital status, income and living area were examined and analyzed.

The value of the organic food market in 2014 was around 80 billion dollars, with the leading countries being the USA, Germany, France and China (Golijanin and Popović, 2018). The largest market for organic food is North America, which is estimated at 51 billion US dollars, while Europe is in the second place with 45 billion US dollars (IFOAM, 2020). According to data from 2019, the organic food market amounted to 106 billion dollars (IFOAM, 2021), while in 2022, it amounted to 129 billion dollars, which represents an increase of 15% (IFOAM, 2022). The average annual growth of sales of organic products in the world was over 11% in the year 2020, and the international demand for organic food tends to grow over the next few years (Eberle et al., 2022).

It is interesting that organic food was previously produced mainly in the most developed countries, and that in recent years it has been increasingly produced in developing countries, from which even about one-third of the total produced organic food comes (Yadav, 2016). Most of the organic food produced in these countries is exported, so 80-90% of the total organic food produced in Ukraine is sold abroad. In Serbia, this ratio is even more pronounced, considering that only about 1% of produced organic food is sold on the domestic market, while the rest is exported (Sredojević and Oljača, 2018). According to some results, about 40% of the total produced organic food comes from Asia, while about 90% of total produced organic food is sold on the markets of North America and Europe (Willer and Lernoud, 2016).

In Serbia, the organic food market is not sufficiently developed due to less informed consumers and less developed awareness of the benefits of organic food (Vlahović et al., 2011). In addition to insufficient information on the safety and quality of organic food, the low standard of living is an important obstacle (Golijan, 2016). Therefore, some authors (März et al., 2012) describe the organic food market in Serbia as small and very modest. This is indicated by the growth rate of the organic food market, which is very small (only 2 to 3% per year) if we keep in mind that the organic food market in the EU grows by an average of 10 to 15% per year (Končar et al., 2019). In order to reduce business risk, the largest numbers of producers in Serbia produce conventional food in addition to organic (Simin, et al., 2019). However, a number of other authors (Renko et al., 2011) believe that organic food will be increasingly bought by educated consumers and consumers who care about their health and will become part of their daily diet, so its higher price will not be a barrier for consumers to buy it.

Material and methods

There are three major questions that provide the basis for current research:

1. What is generally the average frequency of purchasing organic food in Serbia?

2. Are there any differences in these frequencies between people who live in different regions: Vojvodina, Belgrade, Southern and Eastern Serbia and Western Serbia?

3. What are the main features of organic food buyers and what are their main demographic characteristics (gender, education, age, area, marital status, number of children and their average monthly incomes)?

The main purpose of current research is to give an explanation and a wider picture of the main demographic features of typical organic food consumers and estimate the necessity of a healthy lifestyle among people from Serbia in general, and more precisely from different regions of Serbia. This presents an important theoretical contribution to the growing and increasingly important topic in contemporary literature, and on the other hand, it also provides pertinent and practical significance which could be used by various stakeholders like: traders, producers, distributors, policymakers, different interest groups and others. A better understanding of the main characteristics of organic food customers allows producers and sellers of organic food to better adjust products to customers in accordance with their investigated features, as well as to develop appropriate marketing strategies to attract new and retain old customers.

The research was conducted online via a Google questionnaire between June and December 2021 and the final sample included 600 out of 800 subjects, as 200 subjects were excluded from the study, because they had not filled out the questionnaire completely. There were participants of different genders, educational levels, ages, material and marital statuses, numbers of children, as well as the areas and regions in Serbia. In addition to the list of basic data on the respondent, a specially designed questionnaire was used for the needs of current research, which was conducted online via Google Forms. It consisted of 20 items on a five-point Likert scale concerning different variants related to nutrition, the frequency of consumer purchases, motives, barriers and habits. The reliability of this questionnaire in research on this and similar topics (Čolović and Mitić, 2021; Čolović and Mitić, 2022; Čolović et al., 2021) expressed as a measure of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha values) ranged from 0.71 to 0.81. In the current research, the measure of internal consistency had a value of 0.76 of Cronbach's alpha. In addition to descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine differences between two groups of subjects and the Kruskal-Wallis oneway analysis of variance test was used to examine differences in scores between larger numbers of groups of subjects.

Results and discussion

The frequency of organic food purchases by regions of Serbia

Based on the obtained results on the frequency of purchasing organic food, it can be seen that, in Serbia, there is still no developed awareness of the importance of healthy nutrition and the benefits it brings. Thus, in the examined sample, only 5.7% of respondents stated that they buy organic food every day, 14.1% - two to three times a week, while the largest part is made of those who stated that they never buy organic food, even 27.8%. There is a very high percentage of those who rarely buy organic food. Thus, 27.7% stated that they buy organic food once a month, while 24.7% do so once a week (Table 1).

Table 1. The frequency of organic food purchases.

		Serbia		Southern and Eastern Serbia		Western Serbia		Vojvodina		The city of Belgrade
	Frequency	Percent	Frequency	Percent	Frequency	Percent	Frequency	Percent	Frequency	Percent
Never	167	27.8	62	41.3	58	38.7	32	21.3	15	10
Once a month	166	27.7	38	25.3	30	20	50	33.3	48	32
Once a week	148	24.7	30	20	35	23.3	38	25.4	45	30
2–3 times a week	85	14.1	16	10.7	22	14.7	21	14	26	17.3
Daily	34	57	4	2.7	5	3.3	9	6	16	10.7
Total	600	100.0	150	100.0	150	100.0	150	100.0	150	100.0

It is interesting that the largest number of respondents who do not buy organic food are from southern and eastern Serbia (41.3%) and western Serbia (38.7%).

One of the possible reasons for such results may be insufficient information for consumers about the importance and significance of quality nutrition, as well as all the benefits it brings. Also, some of the potential reasons that are common in our population can be the unavailability of organic products, distrust in certification, taste, various psychological factors, etc. The biggest obstacle for consumers in buying organic food is certainly the high price, which is not surprising given the lower standard of our population compared to more developed countries (Čolovic and Mitić, 2022). This can be seen in comparison with research conducted in other countries, where the percentage of consumers who do not buy organic food is much lower. Thus, in Italy, only about 11% stated that they never buy organic food (Hamilton and Hekmat, 2018), and in Poland - about 15% (Bryła, 2016). Nevertheless, emphasizing that organic food is of high quality, without additives and harmful substances, and with a good price-quality ratio, will contribute to the further development of this market (Milić et al., 2022). The biggest motivation of customers to buy organic food is a concern for health, so emphasizing that aspect can increase the frequency of buying organic food (Čolović and Mitić, 2021), especially among middle-aged people who are often under stress (Čolović et al., 2022) and in midlife crises (Čolović and Stojković, 2017).

Given that the frequency of buying organic food is the highest in Belgrade and Vojvodina, which are above other regions in Serbia in terms of living standards and incomes, the price is obviously the main factor that affects the frequency of buying organic food. The obtained results are in line with the research conducted by Dašić et al. (2019), who state that about 55% of customers in Serbia rarely buy or do not buy organic products. In a survey conducted in 2013 in Serbia, on a sample of 300 respondents, almost 72% of them rarely or never bought organic food (Đokić et al., 2014).

It can be concluded that the number of customers in Serbia who do not buy organic food is decreasing. When it comes to customers who regularly and orderly buy organic food in Serbia, that percentage varies depending on the research and is around 14% in the research carried out by Vehapi and Dolićanin (2016), about 20% in the study conducted by Mitić and Čolović (2022), according to [?], that percentage is slightly higher and amounts to around 28%, and up to 40% according to research done by Dašić et al. (2019).

Demographic characteristics of organic food consumers

The current research involved 600 respondents, of whom 450 were females and 150 males (Figure 1).

Figure 1 The gender of the respondents.

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Statistically significant gender differences in scores were obtained in favor of women, who proved to be more frequent buyers of organic food (U=25231.000; p<0.05). A possible reason for these results may be greater attention and commitment to physical appearance by women than men. Also, the reason for the obtained results may be the fact that women go shopping more often and pay more attention to planning purchases and checking the quality of food they intend to buy in order to maintain better self-care as well as the health of their family members (Table 2).

Table 2. Gender differences in the purchase of organic food.

	GENDER	N	MR	∑R
FREQUENCY OF PURCHASING ORGANIC FOOD	Men	150	264.35	32254.00
	Women	450	322.64	146872.00
	Total	600

According to several studies conducted in Serbia (Dašić et al., 2019; Đokić et al., 2014; Mitić and Čolović, 2022), there are statistically significant differences when it comes to gender, and women are ahead of men in terms of the frequency of buying organic food. This is confirmed by research carried out by Kranjac et al. (2017) on a sample of 398 respondents, according to which about 20% of women buy organic food more than men. The obtained results are in line with the research conducted in Brazil (Feil et al., 2020), according to which, buyers of organic food are mostly females (59.3%). Also, this result is consistent with a number of studies (Azzurra et al., 2019; Eisinger-Watzl et al., 2015; Đokić et al., 2014; Hoda et al., 2015; Kranjac et al., 2017; Lea and Worsley, 2005; McCarthy et al., 2016; McFadden and Huffman, 2017; Mohsen and Dacko, 2013; Nandi et al., 2017; Nasir and Karakaya, 2014; Onyango et al., 2007; Petrescu et al., 2016; Rimal et al., 2005; Stojić and Dimitrijević, 2020; Vittersø and Tangeland, 2015), and is not in line with studies according to which gender has no effect on the frequency of organic food purchases (Marreiros et al., 2010; Hashem et al., 2018), nor with the study, stating that men buy organic food more often than women (Perić et al., 2017).

In the current research, there were 15 persons (2.5%), who have completed only primary school, 215 (35.8%) with secondary education, 63 persons or 10.5% completed vocational studies, while 280 persons (46.7%) have higher education and 27 persons have a PhD diploma, which presents 4.5% of the total sample (Figure 2).

Figure 2 The education of the respondents.

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According to research conducted among respondents in Novi Sad and Belgrade (Radojević et al., 2021), the level of education is the most important factor influencing the purchase of organic food. This is confirmed by research done by Kranjac et al. (2017), who have stated that as many as 82% of organic food buyers have a university degree, as well as by Renko et al. (2011), who point out that organic food buyers are highly educated people or they are on their way to become so.

As far as education is concerned, the frequency of organic food purchases has been shown to increase with the level of education, which can be related to the increasing awareness of the importance of a healthy nutrition and plenty of advantages of organic food in relation to conventional food and GMO (genetically modified organism) food. A higher level of education is mostly associated with higher income (which proved to be true in the current research), i.e., a higher possibility of buying organic food.

More precisely, people with a PhD are the most frequent buyers of organic food, while people who have only completed primary school are the least likely to buy this type of food (Table 3).

Table 3. Educational differences in the purchase of organic food.

	EDUCATION	N	MR
FREQUENCY OF PURCHASING ORGANIC FOOD	Primary school	15	231.74
	High school	215	261.41
	Vocational studies	63	286.79
	Completed graduate studies/Master’s degree studies	280	302.65
	Completed a doctoral degree	27	341.24
	Total	600

The magnitude of the obtained differences, measured by the Kruskal-Walis test, was at a statistically significant level (χ² = 10.32; p < 0.05). These results are consistent with the results obtained in some studies (Baudry et al. al., 2016; Curl et al., 2013; Dettmann and Dimitri, 2010; Đokić et al., 2014; Hashem et al., 2018; Husic-Mehmedovic et al., 2017; Kesse-Guiot et al., 2013; Nandi et al., 2017; Paul and Rana, 2012; Shamsollahi et al., 2013; Singh and Verma, 2017; Tung et al., 2012), while these findings are not in line with other results (Lea and Worsley, 2005; Mohsen and Dacko, 2013; Rimal et al., 2005), according to which, the level of education does not affect the frequency of organic food purchases.

About 80% of respondents in our sample stated that they had an average income (480 respondents), 57 persons rated their income as above average, which represents 9.5%, while 63 persons stated that they had income below average (10.5%) (Figure 3).

Figure 3 The material status (income) of the respondents.

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Research conducted in India has shown that there is no correlation between income and the frequency of buying organic food (Misra and Singh, 2016). The highest frequency of buying organic food is observed among consumers with the highest incomes, according to the results of a large number of studies conducted in Serbia (Ćirić et al., 2020; Đokić et al., 2014; Kranjac et al., 2017). This can be related to the higher price of organic products, and the inability of people with lower material status to afford organic food and products. It has been shown that with a better material status, that is, with an increase in income, the frequency of buying organic food generally increases. People who reported having an aboveaverage income mostly tended to buy organic food (Table 4).

Table 4. The results of the Kruskal–Wallis test (the significance of differences regarding the material status – income).

	MATERIAL STATUS (INCOME)	N	MR
FREQUENCY OF PURCHASING ORGANIC FOOD	Below average	63	271.17
	Average	480	298.86
	Above average	57	334.04
	Total	600

The obtained differences in the scores of the respondents were at a statistically significant level (χ²=5.324, p<0.05). The results of the current research are in accordance with the results of other studies (Dumortier et al., 2017; Eisinger-Watzl et al., 2015; McCarthy et al., 2016; Nandi et al., 2017; Rizzo et al., 2020; Singh and Verma, 2017), while they are not in line with Hashem et al. (2018) and Mohsen and Dacko (2013), who have stated that the level of income does not affect the frequency of buying organic food.

In the current sample, the largest number of respondents was aged 25 to 39 years (46%). People between the ages of 40 and 65 were in the second place (30.8%), followed by younger respondents (19%), while older respondents made up 4.2% of the sample (Figure 4).

Figure 4 The age range of the respondents.

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Research conducted in Serbia through an online questionnaire in April 2020, in which 1022 respondents participated, showed that the most frequent buyers of organic food were in the age category of 25 to 39 years, which is in accordance with the results obtained in the research conducted by Kranjac et al. (2017), who claim that the highest frequency of buying organic food is observed in the population aged 21 to 40. Although buyers of organic food are mostly younger, no statistically significant differences were obtained when it comes to age (Đokić et al., 2014).

According to research conducted in Denmark on a sample of 1.176 respondents, there is a negative correlation between age and buying organic food, which means that older people buy less organic food (Hansen et al., 2018). Different results were obtained in Germany where younger respondents more often buy organic food (Grebitus et al., 2015), as well as in England with a sample of 416 respondents (Hashem et al., 2018), and in China, where the sample size comprised 402 respondents (McCarthy et al., 2016).

The obtained differences in the scores of respondents of different ages are at a statistically significant level (χ²=5.241; p<0.05). With age, the frequency of buying healthy food increases. Thus, the oldest respondents most often buy this type of food. The turning point in making this decision is probably related to the appearance of certain diseases and the decline of vital functions, which consequently leads to increased care for one's own health and awareness of the importance of a healthy nutrition. Considering the majority of older respondents have a regular income, it becomes clear that this further facilitates and contributes to the purchase of organic food within this age group.

Table 5 shows the magnitude of the obtained differences.

Table 5. Differences in the purchase of organic food regarding the age of respondents.

	AGE	N	MR
FREQUENCY OF PURCHASING ORGANIC FOOD	From 18 to 24 years	114	274.57
	From 25 to 39 years	276	282.68
	From 40 to 64 years	185	297.15
	Over 65 years	25	321.78
	Total	600

The obtained results are in accordance with the conducted studies (Dumortier et al., 2017; Eisinger-Watzl et al., 2015; Rimal et al., 2005; Roitner-Schobesberger et al., 2008; Singh and Verma, 2017), but are inconsistent with the results of other studies (Fotopoulos and Krystallis, 2002; Hassan et al., 2009; Hughner et al., 2007; Misra and Singh, 2016; Torjusen et al., 2010).

According to research conducted in China, residents of urban areas are more frequent buyers of organic food (McCarthy et al., 2016). When it comes to Serbia, about 85% of organic food buyers live in urban areas, i.e., cities (Kranjac et al., 2017). Most of the people in the sample live in the city, as many as 510 of them, which is 85%. Only 90 respondents are from rural areas - 15% (Figure 5).

Figure 5 The area of the study.

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People who live in urban areas - big cities, tend to often buy organic food (Table 6).

Table 6. Differences in the purchase of organic food regarding the area.

	AREA	N	MR	∑R
FREQUENCY OF PURCHASING ORGANIC FOOD	Rural area	90	253.90	20599.00
	Urban area	510	294.24	161232.00
	Total	600

One of the possible reasons is the fact that people who have been living in the cities have much more information available and greater availability of organic food stores. The size of the obtained differences is at a statistically significant level (U=17824.000; p<0.05).

The results of the current research are in line with research according to which customers in urban areas are more likely to buy organic food than customers in rural areas (McEachern and Willock, 2004; Kranjac et al., 2017) as well as with another one according to which customers from the city center tend to buy organic food more often than those who live in the suburbs (Hamzaoui-Essoussi and Zahaf, 2012).

In a sample of 600 respondents, the largest number of respondents is married (44.7%). They are followed by single persons (26.1%), then persons who are in a relationship (21.4%). Only 6.1% of respondents are divorced, while widows/widowers make up only 1.8% of the total number of respondents (Figure 6).

Figure 6 The marital status of the respondents.

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No statistically significant differences were obtained in the scores of respondents of different marital statuses (χ²=6.461; p>0.05) (Table 7).

Table 7. Differences in the purchase of organic food regarding the marital status.

	MARITAL STATUS	N	MR
FREQUENCY OF PURCHASING ORGANIC FOOD	Single	150	277.73
	In a relationship	132	313.23
	Married	257	288.75
	Divorced	41	268.23
	Widow/widower	20	341.90
	Total	600

According to research conducted by Đokić et al. (2014), buyers of organic food, except for high income and education, are usually married, have children and live in households with a large number of members. The results of the research coincide with the results of the previous research, except for the number of members in households, which is up to 4 members (Kranjac et al., 2017).

Nandi et al. (2017) conducted research among organic food consumers in India and came to the conclusion that the most common buyers of organic food are married and have more children. This result is not in accordance with the results of previous research according to which married people are most often buyers of organic food (Dimitri and Dettmann, 2012; Hamzaoui-Essoussi and Zahaf, 2012; Kranjac et al., 2017).

Households with a larger number of members are less likely to decide to buy organic food, with those families with young children having a higher frequency of buying organic food (McCarthy et al., 2016). Nandi et al. (2017) concluded, based on a survey conducted among organic food consumers in India, that the most common buyers of organic food are married and have more children. The results of a study conducted in Canada partially coincide with the previous research, according to which the majority of organic food buyers are married, but have only one child (Hamzaoui-Essoussi and Zahaf, 2012).

The largest number of respondents does not even have children (49%).The approximate number of families with one child (21.7%) or with two children (22.8%) is followed by families with three children (5.5%), while there are the fewest families with more than three children (1%) (Figure 7).

Figure 7 The number of children.

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The number of children was not statistically significant in the research (χ²=10.752; p>0.05) (Table 8).

Table 8. Differences in buying organic food in relation to the number of children in the family.

	NUMBER OF CHILDREN	N	MR
FREQUENCY OF PURCHASING ORGANIC FOOD	Without children	294	295.68
	One child	130	338.58
	Two children	137	318.46
	Three children	33	335.23
	More than three children	6	265.32
	Total	600

This result is not in accordance with the results of previous findings according to which married people are most often buyers of organic food (Dimitri and Dettmann, 2012; Đokić et al., 2014; Hamzaoui-Essoussi and Zahaf, 2012; Kranjac et al., 2017). A potential explanation for this is that families with a larger number of children have higher costs, so the higher price of organic food compared to conventional food is a big barrier for them to buy it.

Conclusion

Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that the awareness of the importance and purchase of organic food in our environment is still at a very low level, due to which the frequency of purchasing this type of food is also very low.

It can be concluded that a certain level of awareness of the importance of healthy nutrition in order to improve and preserve the health and quality of one's own life and the life of their family member existence is most evident in certain groups of our respondents. It can be concluded that the interest of buyers of organic food in Serbia grows year by year, but the high price is still the main barrier to purchase, so the frequency of buying organic food in Serbia is lower than in other countries.

When it comes to gender, statistically significant differences were obtained in favor of women, thus confirming the second hypothesis (H2). Also, statistically significant differences were obtained when it comes to the education of the respondents, which proved that with an increase in the level of education and income, the frequency of buying organic food also increases, thus confirming the third (H3) and fourth (H4) hypotheses. This is not surprising since highly educated people usually have the highest incomes in society. There are statistically significant differences when it comes to age, and with increasing age, the frequency of buying organic food also increases, thus confirming the fifth hypothesis (H5). Buyers of organic food most often live in urban areas, which confirms the sixth hypothesis (H6). When it comes to marital status, no statistically significant differences were obtained, therefore, the seventh hypothesis (H7) was not confirmed. Also, the number of children, i.e., the number of household members, did not prove to be statistically significant for the purchase of organic food, thus rejecting the eighth hypothesis (H8).

So it turned out that the typical buyers of organic food are mostly female, with higher education and income, from the urban environment, and of older age. The results are not surprising if we keep in mind that females generally spend more time shopping, and that high income makes it easier to include organic food in daily nutrition given the fact that it is more expensive than conventional. Also, more educated consumers who live in urban areas have more information and are better informed about the benefits of organic food, so they more often decide to buy organic food. Over the years, consumers take more and more care of their health, and therefore more often decide to buy and consume organic food in order to contribute better to their health.

The significance of this research is reflected in providing, based on the obtained results, a better insight into the buyers of organic food and their main socio-demographic characteristics. This is very important considering the fact that socio-demographic characteristics have a great influence on consumers in making a decision to purchase organic food. Insights from this study can help family and consumer science professionals redesign their outreach, curricula, and policy recommendations around organic food consumption.

The originality of the paper is reflected in the fact that the respondents are from all regions of Serbia, both urban and rural areas, which achieves a greater representativeness of the sample and greater differences between the respondents in terms of socio-demographic characteristics.

The limitation of current research represents an uneven sample, primarily by gender and area, and it would be useful to equalize the number of respondents according to the mentioned variables in future research. Also, it would be interesting to extend research to other socio-demographic characteristics in order to see the influence they have on making the decision to buy organic food, or even to conduct research in other markets to identify any differences in the most important socio-demographic characteristics of consumers, as well as, examine whether the frequency of purchasing organic food is at an approximate level in the other countries. Another interesting fact that would be good to investigate is the possible change in the frequency of buying an organic food after the Covid-19 Pandemic and whether there was a reassignment of the main demographic characteristics among buyers of organic food.