Filipino families earned P206 thousand on the average, and spent P176 thousand on the average in 2009, based from the preliminary results of the 2009 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES). These figures translate to an average annual family savings of P31 thousand pesos in 2009 (Table 1). On a monthly basis, the reported average income was P17,200 and average expenditure was P14,700 in 2009.

Adjusting for the inflation between 2006 and 2009 at 2000 prices, the average annual family income in 2009 would be valued at P129 thousand. The average annual family expenditure in 2009 would be valued at P110 thousand at 2000 prices (Table 1).

From 2006 to 2009, average annual family income in all deciles increased. In 2009, this average ranged from P41 thousand for the first income decile (lowest ten percent) to P728 thousand for the tenth income decile (highest ten percent). The average annual family income of families in the tenth decile was about 18 times that of those in the first decile in 2009 while 19 times in 2006 (Table 2b). This shows that income gap between families in the tenth and the first decile narrowed. Income decile is the distribution of families into ten groups in terms of annual family income. The first decile has the lowest income and tenth decile has the highest income.

The families in the bottom 30 percent income group (or the lowest three income deciles combined) reported an average annual family income of P62 thousand in 2009. On the other hand, the families in the upper 70 percent income group earned an average annual income of P268 thousand (Table 2b). On a monthly basis, the average income of the families in the bottom 30 percent was P5,200 while it was P22,300 for the upper 70 percent.

The Gini coefficient of income was estimated at 0.4484 in 2009, slightly lower than the 2006 ratio of 0.4580 which indicates a more equal distribution of income in 2009 (Table 1). The Gini coefficient is a measure of income inequality within a population which ranges from 0 to 1, with 0 indicating perfect income equality among families, and 1 indicating absolute income inequality.

The expenditure pattern of families in 2009 showed significant change for the following expenditure groups: food; tobacco; fuel, light and water; transportation and communication; clothing, footwear and other wear; recreation; and taxes. The family expenditure for food was 42.6 percent in 2009, while it was 41.4 percent in 2006 (Table 3).

• The 2009 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) is a nationwide survey of households undertaken every three years by the National Statistics Office (NSO). It is the main source of data on family income and expenditure, which include among others, levels of consumption by item of expenditure as well as sources of income in cash and in kind. The results of FIES provide information on the levels of living and disparities in income of Filipino families, as well as their spending patterns..

• The 2009 FIES is a sample survey designed to provide income and expenditure data that are representative of the country and its 17 regions. It used four replicates of the 2003 Master Sample (MS) created for household surveys on the basis of the 2000 Census of Population and Housing. The 2003 MS has been designed to produce the sample size needed for large surveys, like the FIES. To facilitate subsampling, the 2003 MS has been designed to readily produce four replicate samples from the full set of sampled PSUs..

• In the 2003 MS, a stratified, three-stage sampling design was employed: the selection of Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) for the first stage, sample enumeration areas (EAs) for the second stage, and sampling units for the third stage. The domains are the regions which were stratified by province, highly urbanized city (HUC), independent component city (ICC), and other factors within the geographical strata. The overall sampling fractions vary across regions to generate adequate sample size for each region. Survey weights are used in order to produce valid estimates of the population parameter. Base weights are computed to compensate for the unequal selection probabilities in the sample design. These were adjusted to account for unit nonresponse and to conform to known population distributions (eg. projected population counts)..

• The 2009 FIES enumeration was conducted twice - the first visit was done in July 2009 with the first semester January to June as the reference period; the second visit was made in January 2010 with the second semester of 2009, that is, July to December 2009 as reference period. The same set of questions is asked for both visits..

• The number of households/families for the 2009 FIES was estimated using the 2000 Census of Population and Housing (CPH)-based population projections and information from the 2000 CPH on the average household size by province..

• The set of samples selected for the 2009 FIES is only one of the possible sets of samples of equal size that have been selected from the same population using the same sampling design. Estimates derived from each of these sets of samples would differ from one another. Sampling error is a measure of the variability of the estimates among all possible sets of samples. It is usually measures in terms of the standard errors for a particular statistic..

• The standard error can be used to calculate confidence intervals within which the true value for the population can reasonably be assumed to fall. For example, for any given statistic calculated from a sample survey, the value of that statistic will fall within a range of plus or minus two times the standard error of that statistic in 95 percent of all possible samples of the same size and design.

Source:   2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (Preliminary Results)
                Income and Employment Statistics Division
                National Statistics Office
                Republic of the Philippines