Australian National Accounts: Distribution of Household Income, Consumption and Wealth

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Contains results that integrate the ABS micro and macro sources and produce distributional information of household income, consumption and wealth

Reference period
2003-04 to 2017-18
Released
20/11/2018

Introduction

Widely used macro-economic measures of the economy such as the National Accounts provide vital information on the size and structure of the economy. However they do not provide information on the distribution of income and wealth or of individual access to goods and services. These issues are widely recognised as important in understanding material living standards, and have been of increasing focus over recent years. Issues of distribution and access are also central to targeting, and improving the efficiency of both social and economic policies.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) publishes high quality aggregate (macro) and distributional measures (micro) of household economic well-being. The macro estimates are published in the Australian System of National Accounts. The national accounts provides up-to-date estimates for total household income, consumption and wealth, however metrics produced from the national accounts such as household income per capita do not give any information about how available resources are distributed. The ABS household distributional estimates are published in the suite of ABS publications derived from the ABS Survey of Income and Housing and Household Expenditure Survey (micro data).

Due to differences in concepts, definitions and statistical practices, micro data may yield results that diverge from national accounts aggregates, and therefore distributional measures created using micro data sources alone may not be consistent with the aggregate figures in the national accounts (macro data). This publication contains results that integrate the ABS micro and macro sources and produce distributional information of household income, consumption and wealth, consistent with the Australian System of National Accounts (ASNA) concepts and aggregates.

International and domestic drivers

The report of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (September 2009), the “Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission”, stressed the importance of a greater focus on the household to provide better measures of people’s well-being. The report emphasised the importance of formulating metrics that presented the distributional aspects of households such as median income and income quintiles consistent with the System of National Accounts. Further, in response to the 2008-09 global financial crisis, the Group of Twenty (G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors reiterated the importance of providing distributional information alongside aggregate figures. In Australia, the importance of distributional analysis of household aggregates such as saving and wealth for economic and social policy has been recognised in addresses made by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

In early 2011, Australia, along with 25 other countries, took part in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Eurostat (European Union statistical commission) expert group for measuring disparities in a national accounts framework. The role of the expert group was to devise robust and internationally comparable methodology to allow the integration of distributional information using existing micro information on different household groups that are consistent with the System of National Accounts (SNA) concepts and aggregates.

In August 2013, the ABS released an Information Paper: Australian National Accounts, Distribution of Household Income, Consumption and Wealth, 2009-10 (cat. no. 5204.0.55.009) based on (and expanding upon) the work undertaken by the ABS with the OECD-Eurostat Expert Group. This publication distributed estimates for income, consumption and wealth from the Australian System of National Accounts (ASNA), 2011-12 (cat. no. 5204.0) for the year 2009-10 for five household distributional indicators using data from the ABS Survey of Income and Housing and the ABS Household Expenditure Survey.

In October 2014, the ABS released the first issue of the Australian National Accounts, Distribution of Household Income, Consumption and Wealth, 2003-04 to 2011-12 (cat. no. 5204.0.55.011).The publication was an extension of the August 2013 information paper in that it included a biennial time series from 2003-04 to 2011-12 of the household distributional data set based on the Australian System of National Accounts, 2012-13 (cat. no. 5204.0).

In November 2015, a second iteration of cat. no. 5204.0.55.011 was released. The publication contained a biennial time series from 2003-04 to 2013-14 plus an estimate for 2014-15 of the household distributional data set based on the Australian System of National Accounts, 2014-15 (cat. no. 5204.0).

The current publication is third issue of cat. no. 5204.0.55.011, it contains a biennial time series from 2003-04 to 2017-18 of the household distributional data set based on the Australian System of National Accounts, 2017-18 (cat. no. 5204.0). The micro estimates used in this release for the data point 2017-18 are linear extrapolation of estimates from the 2015-16 ABS Survey of Income and Housing and ABS Household Expenditure Survey.

Results

Current price household estimates for income, consumption and wealth from the Australian System of National Accounts, 2017-18 (cat. no. 5204.0), for biennial years starting from 2003-04 to 2017-18, were distributed for five household distributional indicators using data from the ABS Survey of Income and Housing and ABS Household Expenditure Survey. Estimates for non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) included in the household sector in the 5204.0 estimates were removed from the household national accounts in this release.

Tables produced in this release are:

  • Distribution of the Australian System of National Accounts (ASNA) household income, consumption and wealth components based on household distributional indicators derived from ABS household surveys. The household distributional indicators presented are main source of income; equivalised income quintiles; household composition; age of reference person in household; and equivalised net worth quintiles, for biennial years starting from 2003-04 to 2017-18 (electronic table 1).
     
  • Analysis of the ASNA household distributions, for individual years:
    • income, consumption and wealth components, share of total household, by household distributional indicator (electronic table 2);
    • income, consumption and wealth components, per household, by household distributional indicator (electronic table 3); and
    • income, consumption and wealth components, ratio of the average of all households, by household distributional indicator (electronic table 4).
       
  • Analysis of the ASNA household distributions, time series:
    • change of household gross disposable income, contribution of income items, per household, by household distributional indicator (electronic table 5);
    • change of household total final consumption expenditure, contribution of consumption items, per household, by household distributional indicator (electronic table 6);
    • change of household actual individual consumption, contribution of final consumption items and social transfers in kind, per household, by household distributional indicator (electronic table 7);
    • change of household net worth, contribution of wealth items, per household, by household distributional indicator (electronic table 8);
    • household income, consumption and wealth, contribution to growth, by household distributional indicator (electronic table 9); and
    • household income, consumption and wealth, growth per household, by household distributional indicator (electronic table 10).
       
  • Impact of redistribution measures by government and non-profit institutions serving households, by household distributional indicator (electronic table 11).

Analysis and comments - income and wealth quintiles, 2017-18

This section presents graphs and tables with accompanying text for the distributions of the Australian System of National Accounts (ASNA) household income, consumption and wealth estimates by household distributional indicators, equivalised income and wealth quintiles. This section uses the ASNA term 'total household' throughout the text, total household has an equivalent term in the ABS micro publications, which is 'all households'. Included in this section are ratios of the total value of the highest to the lowest quintile, the ratios are a measure of the spread of income, consumption and wealth across the population. The ratios are a summary indicator of inequality.

Income

Table 2.1 below presents the 2017-18 values of the ASNA total household income components that are distributed into equivalised income and wealth quintiles. The income graphs below are based on the detail distributional information published in electronic tables 1, 2 and 11.

Table 2.1 ASNA total household income (excluding NPISH), 2017-18

Income$m
Compensation of employees865 325
Gross mixed income157 527
Gross operating surplus - dwellings owned by persons136 158
Property income receivable174 758
Social Assistance benefits131 314
Interest payable70 558
Income tax payable217 612
Social transfers in kind278 577
Superannuation benefits received (memorandum item)112 009
Gross disposable income1 165 320
Adjusted disposable income1 443 897

 

 

Compensation of employees

Gross mixed income

Gross operating surplus - dwellings owned by persons

Property income receivable

Social assistance benefits

Interest payable

Income tax payable

Social transfers in kind

Superannuation benefits received (memorandum item)

Disposable income

Impact of the redistribution by government and non-profit institution serving household (NPISH)

Consumption and saving

Table 2.3 below presents the 2017-18 values of the ASNA income and consumption components, and gross saving, by income and net worth quintiles, to assist the interpretability of the equivalised income and net worth quintile graphs presented below. The consumption and gross saving graphs below are based on the detail distributional information published in electronic tables 1, 2 and 5.

Table 2.3 ASNA household income and consumption (excluding NPISH) - 2017-18

Income and Consumption, $mLowestSecondThirdFourthHighestTotal
Income quintiles      
 Gross disposable income86 832145 862200 212260 607471 8081 165 320
 Household final consumption expenditure118 774140 270178 561218 219332 391988 215
  Health8 5637 36510 91910 00916 98553 841
 Social transfers in kind71 10867 59256 61545 31037 953278 577
  Health26 06029 97025 98322 74921 511126 274
 Adjusted disposable income157 939213 454256 826305 917509 7611 443 897
 Gross saving-31 9425 59221 65042 388139 417177 105
Net worth quintiles      
 Gross disposable income142 903217 072218 956224 418361 9711 165 320
 Household final consumption expenditure123 695172 149185 739207 678298 956988 215
  Health5 5949 4919 02512 55717 17453 841
 Social transfers in kind65 10856 90458 16752 62145 776278 577
  Health21 16522 44427 25427 88027 530126 274
 Adjusted disposable income208 011273 977277 123277 039407 7481 443 897
 Gross saving19 20844 92433 21716 74163 016177 105

 

 

Consumption

Gross saving

Wealth

Table 2.4 below presents the 2017-18 values of the ASNA total household wealth components that are distributed into equivalised income and wealth quintiles. The wealth graphs below are based on the detail distributional information published in electronic tables 1 and 2.

Table 2.4 ASNA total household wealth (excluding NPISH) - 2017-18

Wealth$m
Dwellings and residential land6 922 044
Financial assets5 154 688
 Currency and deposits1 079 930
 Shares and other equity965 911
 Superannuation and insurance reserves3 000 454
Loan liabilities2 217 061
Net Worth10 300 060

 

 

Dwellings and residential land

Financial assets - currency and deposits, shares and other equity, and superannuation and insurance reserves

Liabilities - loans

Net worth

Time series analysis

This section provides analysis of the time series (2003-04 to 2017-18) of the Australian System of National Accounts (ASNA) distributional household income, consumption and wealth data.

The analysis presented aims to provide the users with a flavour of the type of analysis that is possible with the time series dataset, it is not meant to be an exhaustive analysis of the ASNA distributional household dataset.

The analysis is broken into the five broad categories of income; redistribution measures by government and non-profit institutions serving households; consumption; gross saving; and wealth. For each category, the five household groups (equivalised household income and net worth quintiles; main source of income, household composition; and age of household reference person) are analysed in terms of (i) growth of income (consumption, gross saving and net worth) and (ii) material living standards. Specifically, the analysis will focus on the:

  • growth over time in aggregate (and components) of household gross disposable income, final consumption expenditure, gross saving and net worth (electronic table 9);
  • contribution of household groups to growth over time in aggregate (and components) of household gross disposable income, final consumption expenditure and net worth. This provides an indication of which household groups are driving the growth in income, consumption, gross saving and wealth (electronic table 9);
  • growth over time of household gross disposable income, final consumption expenditure and net worth (and their components) per household (electronic table 10). The contribution of the components (of income, consumption and net worth) to the growth over time of household gross disposable income, final consumption expenditure, actual individual consumption and net worth per household, by household groups (electronic table 5, 6, 7 and 8). Together, the analysis in these tables provides an indication of the improvement or otherwise of material living standards of household groups over time; and
  • impact on household groups over time of the redistribution measures by government and non-profit institutions serving households on gross disposable income per household. This analysis provides an indication of the improvement or otherwise of material living standards of household groups over time (electronic table 11).


Users need to take note when analysing the graphs and tables that the movements in dollars and/or percentage terms represents a biennial change up to 2017-18 for all distributed estimates. This mainly reflects the availability of the micro source data from ABS Survey of Income and Housing (SIH).

Income

Electronic table 9 shows from 2003-04 to 2017-18 ASNA household gross disposable income (GDI) grew 116.2%. The increase was driven by an increase of gross operating surplus (GOS) - dwellings owned by persons (137.1% growth); compensation of employees (109.7% growth); property income receivables (151.2% growth); and social assistance benefits (81.7% growth); these were offset by interest payable (85.0% growth) and income tax payable (105.7% growth).

Equivalised income quintiles

Equivalised household net worth quintiles

Main source of income

Household composition

Age of reference person

Impact of redistribution measures by government and non profit institutions serving households

This section analyses the effects of income tax, social assistance benefits and social transfers in kind (STiK) have had on gross disposable income per household, by household group over the period of 2003-04 to 2017-18.

Gross disposable income is presented in a step by step format, each step includes an income receivable or payable component that illustrate the impact of the redistribution of income by government and non-profit institution serving household (NPISH).

Step 1: gross disposable income (GDI) before the addition of income from government social assistance benefits (cash) and the payment of income tax;
Step 2: step 1 GDI less income taxes payable;
Step 3: step 2 GDI plus income from government social assistance benefits (cash);
Step 4: step 3 GDI plus government and NPISH payments to households from social transfers in kind (STiK).

The impacts of redistribution measures is analysed for the five household groups (equivalised household income and net worth quintiles; main source of income, household composition; and age of household reference person). The data presented for each step is the ratio of GDI per household to the all household average (from electronic Table 11); the ratio provides the relative size of the amount of GDI in each step to the average amount for all households, which is an assessment of material living standards. Changes of the ratios from 2003-04 to 2017-18 for each step is graphically presented to measure the change in material living standards for household groups.

Equivalised income quintiles

Equivalised net worth quintiles

Main source of income

Household composition

Age of reference person

Consumption

Electronic table 9 shows from 2003-04 and 2017-18, ASNA household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) grew 106.5%; the increase was driven by an increase in rent and dwelling services (139.7% growth), transport (84.5% growth), food (88.4%), and recreation and culture (76.9% growth).

Equivalised income quintiles

Equivalised net worth quintiles

Main source of income

Household composition

Age of reference person

Gross saving

Electronic table 9 shows from 2003-04 to 2017-18, ASNA gross saving grew 192.3%. The increase in gross saving was mainly seen in the years prior and during the GFC where in 2005-06 to 2007-08 (prior to the GFC) it was 35.6% and during 2007-08 to 2009-10 (during the GFC) gross saving grew 43.2%. Post GFC, the growth in gross saving has slowed from a growth of 24.3% in 2009-10 to 2011-12 down to a negative growth of -5.3% in 2015-16 to 2017-18.

Equivalised income quintiles

Equivalised net worth quintiles

Main source of income

Household composition

Age of reference person

Net worth

Electronic table 9 shows from 2003-04 and 2017-18, ASNA net worth grew 152.0%. The increase was driven by an increase in residential land and dwellings assets (143.8% growth), currency and deposits (235.3% growth) and insurance technical reserves (245.0% growth); these were offset by loan liabilities (182.3% growth).

Equivalised income quintiles

Equivalised household net worth quintiles

Main source of income

Household composition

Age of reference person

Conclusion

The distribution by household groups of the national accounts household income, consumption and wealth estimates presented in this publication provides a bridge between the macro-economic aggregate household estimates produced within the Australian System of National Accounts (ASNA) and the ABS household economic resource surveys distributional analysis of household income, consumption and wealth. The household distributional results presented in this paper complement the aggregate estimates for household income, consumption and wealth for 2003-04 to 2017-18 published in the household sectoral accounts in the Australian System of National Accounts, 2017-18 (cat. no. 5204.0).

Due to feedback from users for more timely household distributional data, this release includes extrapolated estimates for household distributional data for income, consumption and wealth for 2017-18, approximately 5 months after the end of the reference year. A feasibility study to test the robustness of the linear extrapolation methodology ( in the November 2015 release), found the modelled estimates of the total shares of national accounts aggregates and components by household groups to be quite accurate. The study found the actual levels of distributed estimates at the aggregate level to be more accurate than the components, but overall less accurate than the shares. Overall, the ABS considers that the 2017-18 estimates will provide a timely initial assessment of the financial health of household groups.

The distributional results for 2017-18 show income inequalities (calculated as ratios of the shares of the highest to lowest quintile) across households classified according to income and net worth quintiles for income components such as compensation of employees, property income and superannuation benefits received. However, the results show a reversal of the inequality when the impact of the distributional policies of government through transfer payments in cash and in kind (i.e. social assistance benefits and health social transfers in kind), and income tax are analysed on the income quintiles, this impact is illustrated to a lesser extent on the net worth quintiles. The value of the ratios for total gross disposable income and household final consumption, indicate income inequalities are higher than consumption inequalities, with further evidence provided by the inequality across households income quintiles for gross saving. Inequalities in wealth are illustrated by income and net worth quintile distribution of ownership of residential dwelling and land and superannuation and insurance reserves, with the net worth quintiles indicating these inequalities more markedly.

The ABS are among only a few national statistical offices (NSOs) that have produced time series of the household distributional data set. The distributional analysis of the time series in this release may be employed to address policy questions not otherwise possible with aggregate time series estimates of the household sector from the ASNA. The questions that can be answered may be broadly categorised to those related to a household group's (i) contribution to growth in income (consumption, net saving and net worth) and (ii) material living standards, such questions as:

  • which household group benefitted from the increase in gross disposable income, and its components such as interest and dividend receivable during the period 2003-04 to 2017-18;
  • what was the saving behaviour of household groups before, during and after the global financial crisis (GFC);
  • which household groups are investing in superannuation (insurance technical reserves), and over time which household groups are benefitting from growth in superannuation technical reserves;
  • for a household group, what is the contribution of social transfer kind in education to the overall growth in actual individual consumption per household;
  • for household groups, what is the contribution of residential dwelling and land to growth overtime in net worth per household; and
  • what is the impact on gross disposable income per household for household groups with a change in taxation policy.

Data downloads

Table 1 Household (excluding non-profit institutions serving households) income, consumption and wealth, by household distributional indicator, $millions, current prices

Table 2 Household (excluding non-profit institutions serving households) income, consumption and wealth, share of total household, by household distributional indicator, per cent

Table 3 Household (excluding non-profit institutions serving households) income, consumption and wealth, per household, by household distributional indicator, $, current prices

Table 4 Household (excluding non-profit institutions serving households) income, consumption and wealth, ratio of the average of all households, by household distributional indicator

Table 5 Change of household (excluding non-profit institutions serving households) gross disposable income, contribution of income items, per household, by household distributional indicator, per cent

Table 6 Change of household (excluding non-profit institutions serving households) final consumption expenditure, contribution of consumption items, per household, by household distributional indicator, per cent

Table 7 Change of household (excluding non-profit institutions serving households) actual individual consumption, contribution of consumption items and social transfers in kind, per household, by household distributional indicator, per cent

Table 8 Change of household (excluding non-profit institutions serving households) net worth, contribution of wealth items, per household, by household distributional indicator, per cent

Table 9 Household (excluding non-profit institutions serving households) income, consumption and wealth, contribution to growth, by household distributional indicator, per cent

Table 10 Household (excluding non-profit institutions serving households) income, consumption and wealth, growth per household, by household distributional indicator, per cent

Table 11 Impact of redistribution measures by government and non-profit institutions serving households, by household distributional indicator

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History of changes

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Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 5204.0.55.011

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