Macau households shrinking yet spending rises

Local households have been shrinking in the past few years while also facing increased expenditure, according to a household income and expenditure survey (HIES) from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

The HIES 2023/24, conducted from March 2023 to March 2024, has shown household sizes shrank from an average of 3.04 persons to 2.83 persons when compared with the previous survey held five years ago (2017/18).

The reduction is a result of the decrease of 6.8% in the proportion of households composed of three or more persons, which accounts for 54.2% of all household numbers.

The survey also noted one-person and two-person households grew notably by 25.9% and 25.3% respectively.

Despite the slight contraction of households, family expenditures have increased.

This is despite recurrent annual subsidies and financial aid (e.g. cash handouts, old-age pensions, healthcare vouchers), and government welfare benefits to stabilize livelihood in response to the pandemic.

Average monthly household income rose slightly in real terms 0.4% from 2017/18 to MOP58,835.

The small increase in income was attributed to the shrinking household size, which saw monthly per-capita income (average monthly household income divided by average number of household members) rise 7.8% in real terms to MOP20,815.

Employment income remained the main source of household income, making up 67% of the total. Monetary transfer receipts came next, constituting 19.4%.

In 2023/24, the average monthly household consumption expenditure increased 1.7% in real terms to MOP38,115, compared to five years ago.

Monthly per-capita consumption expenditure rose 9.2% to MOP13,484, which grew faster than the monthly consumption expenditure of households as the decrease in the average household size led to fewer household members sharing some of the recurrent expenses (e.g. rentals for dwellings, and electricity charges).

DSEC analysis of goods and services accounted more for the households expenses, “Housing & Fuels” represented 25% of the household consumption expenditure, although this section saw a drop of 1.9% from 2017/18.

Household spending on “Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages” ranked second, taking up 24.7% of the total, up 2.7% from five years ago.

There were 204,177 households in Macau, up 12,904 or 6.7% from five years ago.

The rise was driven by an increase of 10,223 households living in the Parish of Nossa Senhora de Fátima (Northern District), Taipa and Coloane.

The HIES, which is conducted every five years, aims to understand the consumption pattern and income distribution of households in Macau.

According to DSEC information, the latest data will be used to update the Consumer Price Index basket of goods and services and their respective weights, as well as to revise the basis for calculating private consumption expenditure of Gross Domestic Product.

Less equality in income distribution

DSEC analysis of income distribution equality in the HIES 2023/24 survey revealed the Gini coefficient has, in general, increased from 0.315 (in 2017/18) to 0.324.

Though this value is considered medium, it indicates an increase of income distribution inequality.

The same analysis also notes that after excluding government subsidies and financial aid, the per-capita Gini coefficient was 0.396, which reveals government welfare benefits to balance and improve household income distribution are needed.

The Gini coefficient is an indicator used internationally for measuring the degree of equality of income distribution.

The coefficient lies between zero and one, with zero indicating a perfect distribution and one the greater the level of income inequality.