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 the 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 income, per capita income, per earner income, 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.

Household disposable income per capita (OECD) The list below represents a national accounts-derived indicator for a country or territory's per capita gross disposable household income (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 on income or wealth, social insurance contributions and interest on financial liabilities). NPISH stands for non-profits serving households. 'Gross' means that depreciation costs are not subtracted.' 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.' 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.

+ Gross Disposable income per capita of households and NPISH+(including social transfers in kind) Location 2024* (USD PPP) 71,300 70,150 61,303 57,890 57,419 56,019 54,862 53,701 52,641 49,367 49,099 48,805 48,314 47,972 47,463 46,972 44,600 42,601 41,952 41,839 40,482 40,432 40,028 (2022) 39,796 39,186 37,697 35,759 34,450 33,888 33,471 31,873 26,586 23,311 20,846 17,893 (2021)

*Figures have been rounded to the nearest dollar; if data is unavailable for 2024, figures for 2023, 2022 or 2021 are shown but figures from different years are not directly comparable.

Historical

+Households and net adjusted disposable income per household US dollars per person, PPP converted, 2021 ; P — provisional data Country 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Δ 31,443 11,497 39,569 3,883 36,928 P 3,842 30,210P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P 8,855 14,088 3,317 22,870 8,293 31,761 6,592 13,968 11,705 32,147 5,103 35,569 P P 5,212 36,965 P P P P 6,793 27,353 P P P -2,954 18,799 P 7,728 26,413 6,973 36,257 -2,176 27,415 4,294 18,421 10,057 13,201 10,580 17,880 14,257 45,560 6,386 14,914P P P 2,250 34,697 P P 7,163 25,173 10,199 35,254 8,369 16,227 12,361 25,893 P 2,283 15,873 9,426 23,160 7,837 29,655 P P 653 30,420 8,628 38,387 P P 7,397 31,908 4,656 44,407 11,125

Median equivalised household disposable income

The median equivalised household 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. The median equivalised disposable income for individual countries corrected for purchasing power parity (PPP) for 2021 in United States dollars is shown in the below table.

+ Median equivalised household disposable income Location 2021 (USD PPP) 49,748 46,625 41,621 39,698 39,388 37,715 37,110 36,853 36,835 35,891 35,537 34,061 33,472 32,158 31,882 31,392 30,727 30,622 28,698 27,949 26,884 26,630 26,075 24,264 23,802 21,366 21,282 20,856 19,908 19,680 19,147 16,774 16,410 15,898 15,361 14,990 10,341 10,101 8,915 6,090 6,068

See also Income distribution List of countries by household final consumption expenditure per capita List of countries by wealth per adult List of countries by GNI per capita growth

References

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