Bottom 20% Income Group Spends 75.9% of Disposable Income on Food and Housing Costs

Essential Living Expenses for Bottom 20% Income Households in Q2: 713,000 KRW... 75.9% of Monthly Disposable Income (939,000 KRW)

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] In the second quarter of this year, households in the bottom 20% income bracket spent more than 70% of their disposable income on essential living expenses such as food, housing, and transportation.

According to Statistics Korea on the 21st, the average monthly disposable income of households in the first quintile, representing the bottom 20% income group, was 939,968 KRW in the second quarter of this year. Of this, spending on essential living expenses such as food, housing, and transportation accounted for 75.9%, or 713,749 KRW.

Specifically, expenditures on groceries and non-alcoholic beverages consumed at home amounted to 247,960 KRW (26.4%), while dining out expenses reached 144,442 KRW (15.4%). This means that first quintile households spent about 40% of their disposable income?income after taxes and other mandatory expenses?on food.

Spending on housing, water, and utilities, which includes monthly rent (actual housing costs), water and sewage fees, waste disposal charges, and utility bills, was recorded at 222,295 KRW (23.6%). Transportation expenses, including public transportation fares and fuel costs for private vehicles, amounted to 99,052 KRW (10.5%).

In contrast, households in the top 20% income bracket, the fifth quintile, had an average monthly disposable income of 8,329,979 KRW, with essential living expenses accounting for only 25.9% (2,158,353 KRW). This means that the proportion of living expenses for the bottom 20% income group is about three times higher than that of the top 20%.

The proportion of living expenses for the second quintile households was 44.7%, for the third quintile 39.2%, and for the fourth quintile 35.1%, showing that as income quintiles increase, the proportion of spending on living expenses decreases.

Additionally, as the spending burden on low-income and working-class households increased, first quintile households recorded an average monthly deficit of 282,000 KRW in the second quarter. Although the average monthly income of first quintile households increased by 16.5%, marking the highest growth rate for the second quarter, they still could not avoid running a deficit. Meanwhile, the second, third, fourth, and fifth quintiles all recorded surpluses.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.