The average annual disposable income of the nation’s richest families last year was 6.08 times higher than that of the poorest families, slightly lower than the 6.13 times recorded in 2012, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported yesterday.
The number has declined four years in a row and last year’s 6.08 times was the lowest level since 2008, DGBAS data showed.
If social welfare subsidies and tax benefits are excluded, the ratio between the highest-income group and the lowest-income group would have reached 7.53 times last year — its lowest level since 2007, the DGBAS said.
“The result shows a positive development in the nation’s wealth gap, which the government hopes to further narrow in the coming years,” Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Minister Shih Su-mei (石素梅) told a press conference.
The DGBAS has conducted an annual survey of family incomes and expenditures since 1964 to keep tabs on wealth distribution.
The survey divides families into five brackets in terms of annual disposable income, with the top 20 percent defined as the richest and the bottom 20 percent as the poorest.
The latest survey found that the average annual disposable income of the richest families was NT$1.88 million (US$62,600) last year, compared with NT$309,000 for those in the poorest bracket.
In terms of per capita disposable income, the average annual disposable income of the nation’s richest people last year was 4.08 times higher than that of the poorest, dropping to its lowest level since 1999, DGBAS data showed.
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