People experienced a significant decline in real-income last year

Cash.Photo Jon Olav Nesvold / NTB scanpix

All household types in Norway experienced a sharp decline in real income in 2016. Families with children are among the groups with the largest decline in income.

Reason for the decline is strong inflation, weak nominal increase in wages and pensions. For all households, the median income after tax was NOK 497,600 in 2016. Measured in constant prices, this was 2.2 per cent or NOK 11 000 lower than the previous year, show new figures from Statistics Norway (SSB). The average income of households in 2016 is around the same level as in 2013.

The biggest decline in income is experienced among families with children. Among couples with children with the youngest children aged 0-6 years, the median income after tax was NOK 743,600 in 2016. Converted in fixed prices, this was almost 19,000, or 2.4 percent, less than the year before.

The proportion of people with low household income also increased in 2016. Out of the EU measurement method, 11 percent of the population in 2016 had an after-tax income per unit of consumption that was below 60 percent of the median income in the population. The equivalent share was 10.9 percent in 2015. The proportion of households with annual low income has increased for each year since 2010.

Households’ estimated net assets, which is the sum of financial assets and capital less debt, had a total of NOK 5,978 billion in 2016, a nominal increase of 9.7 percent from the previous year.

The distribution of household net wealth is, however, disproportionately distributed. In 2016, the first highest net asset value represented 50.7 percent of all net assets, compared with 50.6 percent in 2015. At the same time, the proportion of households that owns primary housing increased from 68.5 percent in 2015 to 69 percent in 2016.

NTB Scanpix / Norway Today