Preliminary results of the 2009 Family Income and Expenditure Survey released by NSO showed that Filipino families earned P206,000 on the average last year, higher by 19.1 percent from P173,000 in 2006.

Adjusting for the inflation between 2006 and 2009, the average annual family income last year would be valued at P129,000.

The average annual expenditures, on the other hand, amounted to P176,000 last year, up by 19.7 percent from P147,000 in 2006.

The annual average Filipino family savings was pegged at P31,000 last year from only P26,000 in 2006.

On a monthly basis, the reported average income was P17,200 and average expenditure was P14,700 in 2009.

Filipino families earned a total income of P3.8 trillion last year, up by 26.5 percent from P2.006 trillion in 2006. While expenditures amounted to P3.24 trillion last year from P2.56 trillion in 2006.

The estimated number of Filipino families stood at 18,452 last year from 17,403 in 2006.

From 2006 to 2009, average annual family income in all deciles increased.

In 2009, the first income decile earned P41,000 and P728,000 for the tenth income decile.

The NSO said the average annual family income of families in the tenth decile was about 18 times that of those in the first decile in 2009 while 19 times in 2006.

"This shows that income gap between families in the tenth and the first decile narrowed," NSO said.

Income decile is the distribution of families into ten groups in terms of annual family income. The first decile has the lowest income and tenth decile has the highest income.

NSO said the families in the bottom 30 percent income group (or the lowest three income deciles combined) reported an average annual family income of P62,000 last year, a 26.5 percent increase from P49,000 in 2006.

On the other hand, the families in the upper 70 percent income group earned an average annual income of P268,000, up by 18.6 percent from P226,000 in 2006.

On a monthly basis, the average income of the families in the bottom 30 percent was P5,200 while it was P22,300 for the upper 70 percent.

While the average income of families in the bottom 30 percent improved, their expenditures also increased.

NSO said a poor family spent an annual average of P64,000 last year from only P51,000 in 2006.

In 2009, the total income of poor family amounted to P343 billion, lower compared to their total expenditure of P345 billion.

Poor Filipino families spent more on food at 59.9 percent last year from P59.1 percent in 2006. This was followed by house, rent, 9.4 percent; fuel, light and water, 6.8 percent; transportation and communication, 3.9 percent; personal care and effects, 3.7 percent; clothing, footwear and other wear, 1.9 percent; medical cared and household operation both 1.7 percent; tobacco, 1.6 percent and education, 1.3 percent.

Families under the bottom 30 percent spent less in recreation, 0.1 percent and non-durable furnishings, 0.2 percent.

The total income of rich families, on the other, reached P3.46 trillion, higher than their expenditures of P2.89 trillion.

The rich Filipino households also spent more on food at 40.5 percent, followed by house rent, 13.2 percent; transportation and communication, 8.2 percent; fuel, light and water, 7.1 percent; education, 4.6 percent personal care and effects, 3.8 percent; medical care, 3 percent and taxes, 2.3 percent.

The 2009 FIES enumeration was conducted twice - the first visit was done in July 2009 with the first semester January to June as the reference period; the second visit was made in January 2010 with the second semester of 2009, that is, July to December 2009 as reference period.

The same set of questions is asked for both visits.

The FIES is a nationwide survey of households undertaken every three years by the NSO.

Manila Bulletin