Press Release 11/25/2015
The average income of the population of the Basque Country increased by 60 euros between 2013 and 2014
86.5% of the population aged 18 and above, i.e. nearly 1,570,000 people, received some kind of income
The average personal income of Basque Country residents was 19,379 euros for people aged 18 and above in 2014. This is 60 euros (or 0.3%) more than in 2013 according to Personal and Family Income Statistics compiled by Eustat in co-operation with the Provincial Councils of Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa.
In terms of the composition of total personal income received by residents of the Basque Country during the 2014 financial year, 61.0% of it came from work, with an average of 11,821 euros. The rest was distributed between 26.0% for transfers and social provisions, 5,042 euros on average, 4.6% came from economic activities, with an average of 881 euros, and 8.4% came from capital gains, both moveable and immoveable, with an average of 1,635 euros.
When compared with the data for 2013, this particular set of data shows that the proportion of income from economic activities has increased by 0.4 percentage points, with income from transfers increasing by 0.2 percentage points. Income from work, however, has fallen by 0.3 percentage points, and income from capital gains has fallen by 0.4 percentage points as a percentage of total income.
Regarding the distribution of income amongst the population, nearly 1,570,000 individuals aged 18 and over received some type of income, that is, 86.5%, whilst 13.5% of the population did not receive any type of income during 2014. Furthermore, 59.7% of individuals received an income below the Basque Country average, including those who did not receive any income; on the other hand, 12.3% had an income that was double the average, that is, slightly over 38,750 euros.
The average personal income for Basque women is 10,000 euros below that of men
The distribution of income between men and women was uneven. Men in the Basque Country received an average income of 24,417 euros, whereas women received an average income of 14,711. In other words, men received 9,706 euros more income than women.
The greatest difference between the personal income of men and women was amongst those aged 65-69, where the average income of men exceeded that of women by 17,009.
For the population aged 18 and over as a whole, the highest total personal income was obtained between the ages of 55 and 59, totalling 26,003 euros. If we take gender into account: the highest income amongst women was obtained between the ages of 50 and 54 (19,434 euros), whilst for men it was earned between 55 and 59 years of age and was considerably higher (33,116 euros).
Gipuzkoa was the province with the highest personal income, 19,880 euros, followed by Álava with 19,346 euros and, in third place, Bizkaia with 19,082 euros. If we analyse the changes since 2013, Gipuzkoa performed the best, with personal income increasing by 0.7%, followed by Bizkaia at 0.2%. Álava, however, saw personal income decrease by just 0.1%.
The average personal income in the capitals of the three provinces exceeded the average for the Basque Country. In first place was Donostia-San Sebastián with 22,583 euros, followed by Bilbao with 19,761 euros and lastly, Vitoria-Gasteiz with 19,558 euros.
Average family income in the Basque Country stood at €40,097 in 2014
Average family income in the Basque Country stood at 40,097 euros in 2014, although half of all families had an income below 32,396 euros. Family income is calculated as an aggregation of the personal incomes of all members of the family who are of legal age. As in the case with personal income, Gipuzkoa was the province with the highest family income, 40,808 euros, followed by Bizkaia with 40,136 euros and, lastly, Álava with 38,447 euros. The average income for families overall in the Basque Country corresponded to 2.1 times the average personal income.
The average income of families in the Basque Country fell by 0.4% between 2013 and 2014. By Province, Bizkaia underwent the greatest decrease, 0.6%, with Álava experiencing a decrease of 0.4%. Gipuzkoa underwent the lowest decrease at less than 0.1%.
61.9% of families received an income below the Basque Country average, or they received no income at all. In 2014, 2.6% of families fell under this category. On the other hand, almost 9% of families, over 78,700, had an income above twice the average, that is, 80,194 euros to be precise.
We may speak of a “gender gap” in family income due to the existence of inequalities regarding family income depending on the gender of the main earner; if he was a male, the families had an average income of 44,315 euros, with the majority of families being concentrated in the intermediate and high strata, whereas if the main earner was a woman the average income stood at 33,431 euros and was concentrated in the lowest income strata.
Donostia/San Sebastián was the capital with the highest family income
Donostia-San Sebastián, with 46,358 euros, was the capital with the highest family income, followed by Bilbao, with 40,759 euros and Vitoria-Gasteiz, with 38,432 euros.
Regarding the regional distribution, there were also differences between the twenty regions of the Basque Country. Eight of these regions received family income higher than the average, with special mention going to Estribaciones del Gorbea (48,270 euros) in Álava, Plentzia-Mungia (47,341 euros) in Bizkaia and Goierri (42,111 euros) in Gipuzkoa. The twelve remaining regions, however, received family income lower than the average, and these include Encartaciones (34,262 euros) in Bizkaia, Bajo Bidasoa (37,051 euros) in Gipuzkoa and Rioja Alavesa, which, at 31,213 euros, was the region with the lowest family income in the Basque Country.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tlf: 945 01 75 62
Further press releases on Personal and family income statistics of the Basque Country
Database on Personal and family income statistics of the Basque Country