_1002.jpg "A child plays with his mother's smartphone while their family take a breather in a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Saw Siow Feng")
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — Two million Malaysian households, or 28.7 per cent of the total, survive with less than RM3,000 each month, Parliament was told today.
Despite the revelation, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar noted that median household income rose 8 per cent annually for the past five years, beating inflation rate of 2.3 per cent in the same period.
He added that households earning more than RM3,000 monthly grew from 61.3 per cent in 2012 to 71.3 per cent this year.
“Although this is a good increase, we are not comfortable yet because there is still 28.7 per cent from seven million households in Malaysia — or two million households — have less than RM3,000 income a month,” he said in a reply to a question in Parliament.
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