Singapore Government Press Release
Media Division, Ministry of Information and The Arts,
MITA Building, 140 Hill Street, 2^nd Storey, Singapore 179369
Tel: 837-9666

The Singapore Department of Statistics is releasing a series of nine Advance Data Releases to inform the public of the characteristics and changes of the Singapore society as revealed by the census data. The detailed statistical tables will be published in the second half of 2001.

The seventh Advance Data Release highlights the changes in household income growth and distribution of Singapore residents between 1990 and 2000. It is available free of charge at the Department’s Home Page <www.singstat.gov.sg>.

For enquiries, please contact Miss Ong Whee Sze, at ong_whee_sze@singstat.gov.sg.

CENSUS OF POPULATION OFFICE

SINGAPORE DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS

FEBRUARY 2001

Resident households in Singapore enjoyed good, steady growth in income from work between 1990 and 2000. The average household income increased from $3,080 to $4,940 at an average annual rate of 4.9 per cent. The income growth was not uniform over the last decade. From 1990 to 1998, the average household income grew by 5.8 per cent per annum. In 1999, there was a drop of 2.7 per cent, due to the lagged effects of the 1998 economic slowdown (Table 1). By 2000, income growth had resumed with the recovery of the economy (5.4 per cent).

Household income has increased in real terms, given the low inflationary environment. Measured in 1990 dollars, the average household income rose from $3,080 in 1990 to $4,170 in 2000 by 3.1 per cent per annum (Table 2). The median household income rose by 2.8 per cent per annum in real terms.

Dollars 

Note: Households with both university and polytechnic graduates are classified under ‘University Graduate Households’.

With recovery from the 1998 economic slowdown, household income growth had resumed for the majority of households in 2000 (Table 6). In analysing income growth of households in different income strata, the total resident households (including those without income earner) were ranked by the size of their total household income from work and divided into ten equal groups or deciles. For the lowest two deciles, the average household income in 2000 had declined compared with 1999. This was mainly due to the increase in the proportion of households with no income earner from 75 per cent in 1999 to 87 per cent in 2000 for the lowest 10%.

Within the lowest 10% of households, there was still a decline of 14 per cent in average household income for those with income earners – from $531 in 1999 to $459 in 2000. Such comparison, however, must be viewed in context, as the proportion of households with income in the lowest 10% had become much smaller, from 25 per cent in 1999 to 13 per cent in 2000. This means that average household income in 2000 is computed for a smaller pool of income-earning households, who are more concentrated at the lowest extreme of the income distribution.

Note : Deciles are based on ranking of all resident households.

In Table 7, only the resident households with income earner were ranked by the size of their total household income from work. Since the household income data cover only income from work, it is pertinent to analyse the household income growth among all households with at least one working person. This is done in some developed countries with a large proportion of retiree households.

For the income-earning households, the average household income from work had increased in every decile group between 1999 and 2000, reflecting the economic recovery. The lowest 10% had an income increase of 6.8 per cent. The  top 10% households had larger increase in income among all groups at 9.4 per cent. For the decade from 1990 to 2000, there were across-the-board increases in household income in all decile groups.

Note: Deciles are based on ranking of resident households with income earners.

Reflecting the faster income growth for higher-income households, the  disparity in household income had widened in 2000. The Gini coefficient, which is a summary measure of income inequality among all resident households, rose from 0.467 in 1999 to 0.481 in 2000 (Table 8). The coefficient had remained relatively stable during the period 1990–1998, at between 0.436 and 0.446.

The same trend was shown when households with no income earner were  excluded, with the Gini coefficient increasing from around 0.410 during 1990–1998 to 0.424 in 1999 and 0.432 in 2000.

Other measures of income inequality indicated similar trend towards greater disparity in household income. The ratio of the average income of households in the top 20% to that of households in the lowest 20% rose from 18 in 1999 to 21 in 2000. After discounting households with very high and very low incomes, households in the 9th decile still earned 7.4 times the income of those in the 2nd decile, up from 5.5 in 1990.

The increase in households with no income earner contributed to the greater household income disparity. Households with no income earner comprised 8.7 per cent of total resident households in 2000, up from 7.5 per cent in 1999 and 4.0 per cent in 1990. This was mainly due to the increase in households with retired elderly persons and unemployed members. As household income from work would shrink when household members retire or become unemployed, such households would tend to fall into the lowest decile (Table 9).

Per Cent 

Note : "Retiree" households refer to those comprising only non-working persons aged 60 years and over.

* Includes households with both retirees and unemployed persons below 60 years.

Although a high proportion of households in lowest 10% had no income from work, they were not necessarily poor. More households in this group were living in bigger dwelling units in 2000. About 78 per cent lived in HDB 3-room and larger flats or private properties, up from 68 per cent in 1990 (Table 10). Furthermore, 78 per cent of households owned their homes in 2000, up from 69 per cent in 1990.

Per Cent 

CENSUS OF POPULATION OFFICE

SINGAPORE DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS

FEBRUARY 2001