DOSM: Poverty rate trends down

The poverty rate has reached 6.2 percent of the population in 2022, down from 8.2 percent the year before.

This was according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2022 released today.

The national poverty line for 2022 was defined as a monthly income of RM2,589 and below, while "hardcore poverty" was defined as a monthly income of RM1,198.

This is the second lowest poverty rate recorded since the new method of calculating absolute poverty was started in 2019.

Previously, using the old method, Malaysia had virtually "zero poverty" by 2016.

Other salient findings with policy implications from the survey are as follows:

The poverty rate is highest in Sabah (19.7 percent), followed by Kelantan (13.2 percent) and Sarawak (10.8 percent). Note that the poverty line for each state varies.

The income gap between the bumiputera and Chinese - a key policy consideration for successive governments - has widened from a 0.72:1 ratio in 2019 to now 0.71:1.

The Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality, has improved to 0.404, down from 0.407 in 2019.

Median household disposable income is the lowest in Kelantan (RM3,156) followed by Perak (RM3,804) and Kedah (RM3,821).

Household income

The "top 20 percent" of households received 46.3 percent of all income, while "the bottom 20" received 16.1 percent.

Based on the DOSM's survey, the "middle 40 percent" band was defined as household income of between RM5,250 and RM11,819.

Both median and average monthly household incomes are RM6,228 and RM8,479 respectively. Both values appeared to have rebounded since 2020 and are now higher than 2019 levels.

The DOSM 2022 survey involved 8.4 million households and was conducted between Jan 2, 2022 and Dec 31, 2022. - Mkini