Malaysia's Disposable income rises nationwide to RM7,584

 

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s average disposable household income rose by 3.2% to RM7,584 in 2024, according to the latest Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2024 Report.

“In terms of disposable income, the average monthly disposable household income increased by 3.2% to RM7,584 in 2024, while the median rose 5.1% to RM5,999. This represents 82.8% of total gross household income, indicating households’ ability to meet essential expenditure needs,” the report stated.

The report also highlighted that this rise in disposable income was accompanied by a gradual improvement in income distribution.

“Households in the Bottom 40 (B40) group, comprising 3.28 million households, had income of up to RM5,858,” according to the report, which was released yesterday.  

The report comprises 33 official statistical publications, presenting comprehensive findings and analyses of the country’s socioeconomic landscape from the perspective of household income and expenditure.

It also noted that the median household income in Malaysia reached RM7,017 in 2024, growing by 5.1% annually, while the mean household income rose by 3.8% to RM9,155.

Income growth varied by state, reflecting diverse economic conditions, the report added.

Six states recorded median household incomes above the national level, with Kuala Lumpur at RM10,802, followed by Putrajaya (RM10,769), Selangor (RM10,726), Johor (RM7,712), Penang (RM7,386) and Labuan (RM7,383).

“Penang recorded the highest annual growth rate at 6.4% between 2022 and 2024,” the report stated.

The report also noted that the B40 group’s share of total national income rose slightly to 16.7%, up from 16.3% in 2022.

In contrast, the Top 20% (T20), who earned RM12,680 and above per month, saw their share decline to 45.1%, down from 46.3%. The Middle 40% (M40), earning between RM5,860 and RM12,679, made up a significant portion of the remaining income share.

At the event, Economy Minister Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan described HIES in his keynote address as a vital statistical instrument for measuring progress and improving the socio-economic status of Malaysian households.

“It is one of the main sources for shaping the country’s socio-economic and social policies, including poverty eradication programmes, increasing income, reducing income inequality, and addressing the cost of living,” he explained.

Amir Hamzah added that Malaysia has achieved a major milestone, with hardcore poverty nearly eradicated and reduced to just 0.09%.

“This reflects the effectiveness of various initiatives to increase people’s income, empower urban communities economically, and enhance public well-being, all of which will be continued by the government,” he said.

The Gini coefficient improved to 0.390 in 2024, compared to 0.404 in 2022, signalling a narrowing of income inequality.

The national absolute poverty incidence decreased from 6.2% in 2022 to 5.1% in 2024, representing about 416,000 households.

“Poverty in urban areas declined to 3.7%, while poverty in rural areas improved to 12%,” the report noted.

“The hardcore poverty incidence dropped to 0.09%, equivalent to fewer than 8,000 households earning below the Food Poverty Line Income (PLI),” it added

Experts: Rising cost of living dampens income gains

The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my › nation › 2025/10/09 › ex...

 — According to the Statistics Department (DOSM), the average monthly disposable household income increased by 3.2% to RM7,584 in 2024, while the .

Malaysia’s widening income gap between rich and the poor has only RM76 a month after expenses

The State of Households - Khazanah Research Institute  

Launch of State of Households 2018: Different Realities. From left to right: Datuk Hisham Hamdan, Dr Nungsari Ahmad Radhi, Allen Ng, Dr Suraya Ismail, Junaidi Mansor.

 Malaysia's widening income gap

KUALA LUMPUR: The gap in income between the rich, middle class and poor in Malaysia has widened since 2008, according to a study by Khazanah Research Institute (KRI).

In its “The State of Households 2018” report, the research outfit of sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd noted that the gap in the real average income between the top-20% households (T20) and the middle-40% (M40) and bottom-40% (B40) households in Malaysia has almost doubled compared to two decades ago.

The report, entitled “Different Realities”, pointed out that while previous economic crises in 1987 and the 1997/98 Asian Financial Crisis saw a reduction in the income gap between the T20 and B40/M40, post 2008/09 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), those disparities were not reduced.

But the Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality in the country, had declined from 0.513 in 1970 to 0.399 in 2016, denoting improvement in income inequality in Malaysia over the past 46 years.

Explaining the phenomenon, Allen Ng, who is the lead author of the KRI report, said income of the T20 households had continued to grow, albeit at a slower pace than that of the M40 and B40 since 2010.

“However, because they (the T20) started at a higher base, the income gap between the T20 and M40/B40 had continued to grow despite the fact that the relative (income growth) is actually narrowing post-GFC,” Ng explained at a press conference after the launch of the report here yesterday.

On that note, Ng calls for greater emphasis and investment in human capital to address the income disparities in the country.

“Human capital is the lynchpin that will help us in the next mile of development,” Ng said.

“Based on the work that we have done, and the way we read the issue, the most important equaliser in terms of income inequality is actually human capital. If we don’t address the quality of our education system, we will not be able to solve the problem of income inequality,” he added.

Among the many key issues highlighted in the report, the state of human capital development in Malaysia was noted as a crucial element to complement the country’s transition towards a knowledge-based economy.

“To complement the knowledge-based economy, the state of human capital development in this country – of which 20% of government expenditure goes to education – has plenty of room for improvement,” the report stated.

Worryingly, the report noted that despite Malaysians receiving 12 years of schooling, they receive only nine years’ worth of schooling after adjusting for education quality.

“The central issue of generating high-quality human capital in this country is an important one as the transition to a high-income nation requires human capital levels that continuously improve productivity, sustain growth and are able to create or utilise technological advancements rather than being substituted by it,” the report said.

Meanwhile, KRI also noted that despite the improvement in income inequality and declining poverty rates in Malaysia, poverty in the country remained rampant.

“While the absolute poverty rate has been steadily declining, it is estimated that an additional one million households lived in ‘relative poverty’ in 2016 compared to two decades ago,” it said in its report.-  The Star

Malaysia's Lower Income Group Only Has RM76 To Spend A Month After Expenses

Shocking.

Some numbers for your soul.- PIC: Department of Statistics Malaysia

According to The Star Online, these households -- categorised under the bottom 40% (B40) income group in the country because they are earning less than RM2,000 a month -- only have RM76 to spare, after deductions, in 2016.

As comparison, these households have a residual income of RM124 in 2014.

The reason for the sharp decline? They were forced to spend more of their income on household items.

The study revealed that these households are spending 95 per cent of their total income on consumption items in 2016 compared to 2014, when the same households spend 'only' 92 per cent of their income on daily items.


So, what's the cause behind this worrying trend?

The report indicated that the rising cost of living is mainly to be blamed for the increase in household expenditure, so #ThanksNajib.

In fact, the report revealed that the high cost of living has affected not only the B40, but all income groups as well.

The real residual household income has, according to the report, reduced for all income classes. For example, households earning above RM15,000 has a real resi­dual income of RM13,100 in 2016, down from RM14,458 in 2014.

Sigh, we guess we just have to spend our money wisely from now on. No more RM16 Caramel Frappuccino® from Starbucks from now on.

Money, where did you go?

We know we keep saying that we're broke, but after reading this report, we found out that there are a lot of people out there who are having it worse than us.

A recent Khazanah Research Insti­tute (KRI) study revealed that every month, the average lower-income household in Malaysia has barely enough to survive after household expenses are deducted.

It's, like, really, really bad!



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