Disposable income of the household sector has increased by 18% from 2007 to 2008. Disposable income per capita has increased by 15.1% and purchasing power by capita by 2.4%.

The households’ total income has risen by 14.5% and total expenditure (i.e. property expenditure and current transfers paid) by 9.3%. The disposable income of households has increased on average by 8.9% per year from 1994. The purchasing power of disposable income per capita has increased by nearly 82% over this period, resulting in an average increase of 4.4% per year.  

Most of the figures published earlier have been taken from the tax returns forms filed by individuals. It should be noted that the figures for individuals’ property income due to interest on bank deposits in the year 2008 may not be fully comparable to other years. This is due to a new law introduced in 2008 whereby banks became directly responsible for reporting these figures to the tax authority on behalf of individuals. This explains the significant increase in number of individuals reporting income due to interest on their bank deposits by 144% and increase in total income due to interest on individuals’ bank deposits by 197% in 2008 compared with 2007.   

Figures for the earlier years have been revised, although only minor changes have occurred.