Income inequality
Tracking our income inequality ensures we understand who is benefiting from our economic prosperity and who is missing out. This indicator measures income dispersion in the ACT comparing different income groups.
The Wellbeing Data Dashboard is intended to measure wellbeing progress over time, with updates made every two years.
ACT Treasury publishes the latest key economic indicators at Economic Indicators for the ACT.
Disposable household income percentile ratio – P20/P50 ratio
This measure helps to show the spread of household income in the ACT. It helps us to see how the benefits from our economic prosperity fall across the community.
We do this by comparing the income received by a low-income household that is in the bottom 20 per cent of the income distribution to a household in the middle of the income distribution. We then see how that comparison changes over time; do the incomes come closer together or spread further apart?
In 2019-20, the bottom 20% of households earnt an average income of 63% of the middle (that is, a ratio of 0.63). This compares with a ratio of 0.61 for all of Australia. This is the latest year for which data are available.
The bottom 20% of households earned an income of $699 in 2007-08 (when this data series commenced) and $829 in 2019-20 in the ACT. This compares with $1,221 and $1,320 over the same period for households in the middle.
Over time, average income for the bottom 20% of households has improved relative to the average income for the middle, increasing from 0.57 in 2007-08 to 0.63 in 2019-20. We have observed a flatter ratio in recent years.
Data source
Chart description
Line graph of the ratio of income between low-income households and the median in the ACT, by financial year. In 2019-20, the bottom 20% of households earnt an average income of 63% of the middle compared to 62.4% in 2017-18.
Technical notes
The ABS determined these results from the Survey of Income and Housing, 2019-20.
This measure shows the ratio of the average weekly equivalised disposable income between low-income households (at the 20th percentile) and the median (at the 50th percentile). Equivalised incomes account for variation in household size and composition, and savings in average costs that result from a larger household. All references to income are for the average weekly equivalised disposable income.
