Real household income up in OECD area in Q4

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Real household income per capita in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) area rose 0.5% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to a report the group released on Tuesday.

This was an improvement compared to the 0.2% rise in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita rose 0.4% in the same period.

"Despite an overall increase in Q4 2024, the picture was mixed across OECD countries," the report said.

Of the 19 OECD countries for which data is available, nine saw a rise, seven a decline, and three stood stable.

The UK saw an increase of 1.5% and the US 0.3%, while Italy posted a decrease of 0.6% and Germany 0.5%.

In 2024 as a whole, real household income per capita grew 1.8% in the OECD, up slightly from 1.7% in 2023.

Overall, all but two nations had growth in 2024. Portugal saw the biggest growth, at 6.7%, mostly due to lower taxes and employee compensation.

Australia, on the other hand, saw the biggest drop (-1.8%), but an improvement over the record drop of -5.1% in 2023, which was mostly caused by higher interest and tax payments.

"The annual rise in real household income per capita as observed in most countries came as inflation slowed compared with the previous year," the report added.