Disposable household and per capita income explained

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, 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)

Current

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.

+(including social transfers in kind)
Location	2022* (USD PPP)
	62,300 (2021)
	59,700
	52,000
	51,600
	50,200
	48,800
	47,700 (2021)
	47,400
	46,800 (2021)
	46,400
	43,900
	43,600
	43,600
	42,800
	41,500
	40,800
	40,400
	38,300
	36,600
	36,300
	35,600
	34,500
	34,500
	33,900 (2021)
	32,700
	32,200
	31,900 (2019)
	29,800
	29,500
	29,200
	28,600
	28,000
	23,100 (2021)
	20,600 (2019)
	20,500
	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.

Historical

Households and net adjusted disposable income per capita^[2] US dollars per person, PPP converted, 2021 ; ^P — provisional data
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
30,210^P	^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
14,914^P																	^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 disposable income

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.^[3] ^[4] 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.^[5]

Median equivalised disposable income
Location	2021 (USD PPP)
	49,748
	48,625
	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
	15,361
	15,898
	14,990
	10,341
	10,101
	8,915
	6,090
	6,068

References

Web site: https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?lc=en&tm=NAAG&pg=0&snb=12&vw=tb&df[ds=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_NAAG%40DF_NAAG_V&df[ag]=OECD.SDD.NAD&df[vs]=1.0&dq=A.AUS%2BAUT%2BBEL%2BCAN%2BCHL%2BCOL%2BCRI%2BCZE%2BDNK%2BEST%2BFIN%2BFRA%2BDEU%2BGRC%2BHUN%2BISL%2BIRL%2BISR%2BITA%2BJPN%2BKOR%2BLVA%2BLTU%2BLUX%2BMEX%2BNLD%2BNZL%2BNOR%2BPOL%2BPRT%2BSVK%2BSVN%2BESP%2BSWE%2BCHE%2BTUR%2BGBR%2BUSA.B7GS1M_POP..&pd=2000%2C&to[TIME_PERIOD]=false&ly[cl]=TIME_PERIOD&ly[rw]=REF_AREA Household accounts - Household disposable income - OECD Data]. theOECD.
Web site: Current well-being . 2024-03-01 . OECD Data Explorer.
Web site: Income Distribution Database .
Web site: https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds=DisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_WISE_IDD%40DF_IDD&df[ag]=OECD.WISE.INE&dq=.A..MEDIAN.._T.METH2012.D_CUR.&pd=2010%2C&to[TIME_PERIOD]=false&ly[cl]=TIME_PERIOD&ly[rw]=REF_AREA%2CCOMBINED_MEASURE&vw=tb OECD Data Explorer, Income distribution database, Median, Disposable Income ].
Book: OECD . Society at a Glance 2024: OECD Social Indicators, Figure 4.1 Median income varies by a factor eight across OECD countries . OECD . 20 June 2024 .