Housing accounts for 25.5% of household expenditure, and transportation and communications account for over 19%, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported on Tuesday.
Average household gross monthly income from all sources (labor, capital, welfare, and support) was NIS 16,577 in 2012, 3.8% more in real terms that in 2011, and average monthly expenditures (including estimates on household utilities and cars) was NIS 14,272, 0.5% more in real terms than in the preceding year.
Average net monthly income (income plus transfers, net of taxes) was NIS 13,839 in 2012, and average monthly expenditures were NIS 10,571, theoretically leaving NIS 3,300 a month for savings. However, expenditures by the bottom 30% of the population exceed their net income.
The Central Bureau of Statistics says that 40% of the bottom fifth's income comes from welfare and support payments, compared with 5.6% of the income of the top fifth of the population. The reason is that the proportion of breadwinners per household in the bottom fifth is 0.8, half the proportion of 1.5 breadwinners per household in the top fifth. In addition, 2% of the income of the bottom fifth comes from capital, compared with 16% of the income in the top fifth, and 7% in the middle fifth.
The gap between income and expenditures widens from the fourth decile upwards: income exceeds expenditures by 1.2% in the fourth decile, rising to 47.5% in the top decile.
The distribution of income in Israel in 2012 was unchanged from 15 years earlier. The top 20% earn 40% of total net household income, and the bottom 20% earn 6.6%. The middle 60% earn 53.9% of total net household income. Israel's Gini coefficient was 0.377 in 2012, unchanged from 2011 (the coefficient goes from 0 = absolute equality to 1 = absolute inequality). The decline in the Gini coefficient from 2010 to 2011 halted in 2012.
Almost all Israeli households have at least one mobile phone, 80% of households have a computer, 70% have Internet access, 27.2% have a water purification system, 20.3% have at least two cars. 48% of households in the top 10% of the population have at least two cars, compared with 1.5% in the bottom 10%.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 30, 2013
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