The report was prepared on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Polish membership in the group of the most developed countries in the world.
Over the last few years the gross income in Poland has increased two-fold and is now higher than in Mexico, Latvia, Chile, Hungary and Estonia. Despite the progressive development of the economically less advanced countries, there are still substantial differences in the incomes of the populations across the world. In 2014 the adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita according to the purchasing power parity (PPP) in the United States was over three times higher than in Mexico (which was ranked last among the OECD countries).
Among the OECD countries Switzerland, Australia, Norway, Germany and Austria were also characterized by high incomes. In the years 2000-2014 an increase in the adjusted household income was recorded in all the countries, and Poland belonged to a group in which the most favorable changes occurred.
The gross disposable income of households is the sum of wages and salaries, gross operating surplus, mixed income, net property income, net current transfers and social benefits other than social transfers in kind, decreased by taxes on income and wealth and social security contributions paid by employees, self-employed persons and unemployed persons. The adjusted gross household disposable income additionally reallocates „income” from the government and from non-profit institutions serving households to the sector of households in order to reflect social transfers in kind.
In addition to current income, an important measure of the financial condition is also the value of household wealth. In 2014, among the OECD countries, the highest average household net financial wealth per capita, according to Purchasing Power Parity, was recorded in the United States, Switzerland, as well as Japan, Belgium and the United Kingdom.
In Poland, the average value of household assets has more than doubled in the last decade, but was still one of the lowest among the OECD countries – in 2014 it amounted to less than USD15,000 per capita. The country with the lowest average per capita wealth was Turkey.
