Disposable household and per capita income


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Household income is a measure of income received by the household sector. It includes every form of cash income, e.g., salaries and wages, retirement income, investment income and cash transfers from government. It may include near-cash government transfers like food stamps, and it may be adjusted to include social transfers in-kind, such as the value of publicly provided health care and education.

Household income can be measured on various bases, such as per household, per capita, per earner, or on an equivalised basis. Because the number of people or earners per household can vary significantly between regions and over time, the choice of measurement basis can impact household income rankings and trends.

When taxes and mandatory contributions are subtracted from household income, the result is called net or disposable household income. A region's mean or median net household income can be used as an indicator of the purchasing power or material well-being of its residents. Mean income (average) is the amount obtained by dividing the total aggregate income of a group by the number of units in that group. Median income is the amount that divides the income distribution into two equal groups, half having income above that amount, and half having income below that amount.

Disposable income per capita (OECD)

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The list below represents a national accounts derived indicator for a country or territory's gross household disposable income per capita (including social transfers in kind). According to the OECD, 'household disposable income is income available to households such as wages and salaries, income from self-employment and unincorporated enterprises, income from pensions and other social benefits, and income from financial investments (less any payments of tax, social insurance contributions and interest on financial liabilities). 'Gross' means that depreciation costs are not subtracted.'[1] This indicator also takes account of social transfers in kind 'such as health or education provided for free or at reduced prices by governments and not-for-profit organisations.'[1] The data shown below is published by the OECD and is presented in purchasing power parity (PPP) in order to adjust for price differences between countries.

Household disposable income per capita (including social transfers in kind)
Rank Country/Territory 2022* (USD PPP)[1]
1   United States 62,300 (2021)
2   Luxembourg 59,700
3    Switzerland 52,000
4   Germany 51,600
5   Austria 50,200
6   Netherlands 48,800
7   Norway 47,700 (2021)
8   Belgium 47,400
9   Australia 46,800 (2021)
10   France 46,400
11   Sweden 43,900
12   Finland 43,600
13   Canada 43,600
14   Denmark 42,800
  European Union 41,500
15   United Kingdom 40,800
16   Italy 40,400
17   Ireland 38,300
18   Slovenia 36,600
19   Lithuania 36,300
20   Czechia 35,600
21   Spain 34,500
22   Portugal 34,500
23   Japan 33,900 (2021)
24   South Korea 32,700
25   Poland 32,200
26   New Zealand 31,900 (2019)
27   Hungary 29,800
28   Slovakia 29,500
29   Estonia 29,200
30   Latvia 28,600
31   Greece 28,000
32   Chile 23,100 (2021)
33   Russia 20,600 (2019)
34   Mexico 20,500
35   Costa Rica 17,900 (2021)

*Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred; if data is unavailable for 2022, figures for 2021, 2020 or 2019 are shown.

The median equivalised disposable income is the median of the disposable income which is equivalised by dividing income by the square root of household size; the square root is used to acknowledge that people sharing accommodation benefit from pooling at least some of their living costs.[2][3] The median equivalised disposable income for individual countries corrected for purchasing power parity (PPP) for 2021 in United States dollars is shown in below table.[4]