KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian households appeared to be doing better in 2014 compared to two years before that, said Khazanah Research Institute managing director Datuk Charon Mokhzani.
"Household income has improved by an average of RM1,141 monthly from 2012 to 2014. Compared to 2012, households in 2014 have a higher median of RM4,585 and an average income of RM6,141 compared to RM3,626 and RM5,000 respectively.
"Gaps between urban and rural households, and between different ethnic groups are closing with the Gini coefficient (a common measure of inequality) improving to 0.401.
"However, disparities in wealth (measured by EPF and ASB savings) are more pronounced than that of income and there is concern that many will not be able to save enough for retirement," he said during the launch of the Institute's fourth publication, The State of Households II today.
It was noted that growth in household income is not driven by expansion in salaries and wages as nominal salaries and wages grew at a much slower pace of 3.3 per cent, reflecting a lower labour productivity growth.
It was also stated that the source of income for the top 60 per cent of households which have become slightly more reliant on current transfers as well as property and investments.
The median salary stood at RM1,600.
"Malaysians are expected to live longer with life expectancy at birth is 77.4 years for women and 72.5 years for men in 2015 compared to 65.5 years and 61.6 years respectively in 1970.
"Longer life expectancy and declining birth rates results in Malaysia becoming an ageing nation. The publication calls for balancing and prioritising public spending between the needs of the young and the old.
"More women have also entered the workforce with participation of 53.6 per cent and peaks at 87.7 per cent for women with tertiary education," he added.
However, there was a matter of deep concern that food prices have risen higher than overall inflation and price anomalies were seen in imported and locally produced foodstuffs such as vegetables, milk and chicken.