At 12pc annual growth, median household income now RM4,585

KUALA LUMPUR, June 22— The median monthly household income in Malaysia rose to RM4,585 in 2014, up from RM3,626 in 2012, the Statistics Department revealed today.

In its report, it noted that the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in the rural areas was at 13.8 per cent, with household income rising from RM2,372 in 2012 to RM3,123 in 2014, while urban areas experienced lower increase of 9.8 per cent, climbing from RM4,238 to RM5,156 in the same period.

Median monthly household income was highest in Kuala Lumpur, which recorded RM7,620, followed by Putrajaya (RM7,512) and Selangor (RM6,214).

Nine states recorded median monthly income of lower than the national figure, including Kelantan with RM2,716 and Pahang at RM3,389.

Perlis registered the highest annual growth rate for median monthly household income at 19.1 per cent from 2012 to 2014.

Six other states also topped the national median growth rate: Johor (17.7 per cent), Kedah (13.5 per cent), Sabah (13.5 per cent), Kuala Lumpur (13.2 per cent), Perak (12.9 per cent) and Malacca (12.4 per cent).

“The incidence of poverty decreased from 1.7 per cent in 2012 to 0.6 per cent in 2014 at Malaysia level.

“Poverty incidence in urban and rural area in 2014 also decreased to 0.3 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively as compared to 2012,” according to the report.

It also noted that the Gini coefficient declined by 3 percentage points from 0.431 in 2012 to 0.401 in 2014, indicating the improvement in the Malaysian household income distribution.

The Gini coefficient is a statistic used to represent income inequality or lack thereof, with a coefficient of zero representing perfect equality while a score of one was maximum inequality.

“The same pattern can also be seen in urban and rural strata,” it said.