Data extracted in November 2025.
Planned update: November 2026.
Highlights
Compensation of employees (wages) accounted for 64.5% of the EU’s adjusted gross disposable income of households in 2024.
In 2024, the household saving rate was 14.5% in the EU and 15.2% in the euro area. The highest rates among the EU countries were 20.0% in Germany, 19.9% in Czechia and 18.8% in Malta.
The EU’s household investment rate was 8.7% in 2024, while for the euro area was 9.1%. The highest rates among the EU countries were 15.0% in Cyprus, 12.3% in the Netherlands and 11.6% in Italy.
- Source: Eurostat (nasa_10_ki )
Overview
This article provides a range of analyses of issues that impact people’s everyday lives, detailing levels of adjusted gross disposable income – a key factor in understanding the economic resources available to households and their economic wellbeing. It focuses on disposable income, saving and investment for households in the European Union (EU) and the euro area (EA). Therefore, the adjusted gross disposable income of households provides a measure of the financial resources that are available to households, after taxes and other deductions have been made. This information is used as a building block within national accounts to develop a range of derived indicators to look in more detail at issues such as gross household saving rates and gross household investment rates.
Note that data presented in this article cover both the household sector and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH); the latter form a relatively small institutional sector that includes charities, trade unions, religious and political groups.
In Figure 1, a historical time series from 2004 to 2024 can be observed, showing the evolution of household real income and consumption per capita in the European Union.
The 2 indicators followed a broadly similar path until 2019, reflecting a close alignment between household resources and expenditures. A pronounced divergence emerged in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when consumption declined sharply, while income remained stable. The subsequent recovery brought the 2 series back into alignment in 2022. In most recent years, both indicators have increased but income remains slightly above consumption, which indicates that households are saving more than before.
This article presents Eurostat statistics derived from European sector accounts, which form part of the European system of national and regional accounts (ESA 2010). Data are provided for the EU and the euro area, as well as for EU, EFTA and enlargement countries.
Note that there are complementary articles that provide information on financial assets and liabilities for households, for financial assets and liabilities of non-financial corporations and the distribution of profits and investment for non-financial corporations.
Adjusted gross disposable income of households
The EU’s adjusted gross disposable income of households was valued at €13 388 billion in 2024, which was equivalent to three quarters (74.3%) of the value of gross domestic product (GDP). Germany accounted for the highest share, representing 25.2% of the total, followed by France (17.9%), Italy (12.4%) and Spain (8.9%).
In 2024, adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita in Luxembourg was 2.1 times as high as in Latvia
To compare adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita across countries effectively, data are adjusted for price level differences by expressing them in purchasing power standards (PPS).
In 2024, the highest level of adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita was recorded in Luxembourg (+40.0% above the EU average), followed by Germany (+25.0%), Austria (+16.0%) and the Netherlands (+15.9%).
By contrast, there were 8 EU countries – namely Latvia, Greece, Estonia, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia, Hungary and Poland – where the average level of adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita was more than 20.0% below the EU average in 2024. Among these, the lowest level was recorded in Latvia (32.9% below the EU average).
Figure 2 shows the PPS adjusted values, converted to a ratio between the values for each country and the EU average, which is set to equal 100.
In Figure 3, the comparison of this index between 2014 and 2024 is shown for the euro area, as well as for the 4 largest EU economies.
Over the past decade Germany, while still leading, has experienced a steady loss of relative advantage. France has continued to record higher income levels than the EA average, but with relatively slower progression over the period. In contrast, Italy has gradually fallen below the EU average, and Spain, though showing moderate increase in recent years, continues to remain below EA average. This means that, on average, adjusted gross disposable income of households in other EU countries have grown more rapidly.
Components of adjusted gross disposable income of households
An analysis of the various components which together make up adjusted gross disposable income of households is relevant.
In the EU, compensation of employees, which consists of the total remuneration, in cash or in kind, payable by an employer to an employee in return for work, consistently accounted for the highest share of adjusted gross disposable income of households between 2014 and 2024. In 2024 this value accounted for 64.5%.
Mixed income of households relates to the profits of unincorporated enterprises and represents remuneration for work that is carried out by self-employed people or members of their family (for example a small family shop, or a freelancer). Gross operating surplus accrues from renting out or owning a dwelling. The share of gross operating surplus and mixed income was 19.2% in 2024.
One of the largest contributions to EU adjusted gross disposable income of households was from social benefits (other than social transfers in kind). These include the following: payments from social security funds (such as pensions or child support); social assistance from government or non-profit institutions serving households; privately funded social benefits such as those made by insurance companies. The share of social benefits in EU adjusted gross disposable income of households was stable between 25.1% in 2014 and 24.7% in 2024. The contribution of social transfers in kind to EU adjusted gross disposable income of households ranged from 17.5% in 2014 to 17.9% in 2024. These include services which households receive free of charge from the government such as public education, health and social security services.
The contribution of net property income to EU adjusted gross disposable income of households ranged from 9.4% in 2014 to 9.0% in 2024. Net social contributions, which represent a negative share of adjusted gross disposable income of households, accounted for 23.0% in the EU in 2024.
Unlike the other components which add to adjusted gross disposable income of households, the level of disposable income is reduced by taxes paid; the negative share reached a low of –13.5% in 2024.
A similar analysis is presented in Figure 5, which details the contributions of the components to adjusted gross disposable income of households in 2024 for European countries.
In 2024, the composition of household income continued to show marked differences across EU countries. Compensation of employees alone represents the biggest share of adjusted gross disposable income for all countries. For Iceland it reached 77.2%, the highest value among all countries, followed by Latvia (75.6%) and Estonia (73.3%). It is also worth noticing, in countries such as Greece and Italy the structure is more diverse. In Greece, compensation of employees (46.0%) and gross operating surplus and mixed income (39.6%) are relatively close. In Italy, compensation of employees (52.6%) is lower than in many western and northern EU countries, while there is a relatively high share of gross operating surplus and mixed income (29.0%). Net property income remained generally modest across the EU, typically below 10.0%, though it exceeded this threshold in a few cases among which Germany (13.7%) and Italy (12.1%).
The redistributive components of household income play a crucial role. Social benefits ranged between 11.0% and 30.0%, peaking in Italy (29.2%) and Austria (26.5%), and remaining lowest in Malta (11.2%) and Hungary (15.5%). Social transfers in kind represented a significant share of household resources, exceeding 25.0% in most Nordic countries, compared with less than 13.0% in Greece, Romania, Hungary, and Portugal.
The burden of net social contributions and taxes shows variation across Europe. These deductions reached their highest levels in Denmark (10.0% and 41.7% respectively) and Sweden (16.3% and 20.6% respectively). In contrast, countries such as Romania, Cyprus, and Slovakia report much lower tax and net social contribution rates.
Household saving rate
Household saving rate is gross household saving divided by gross disposable income (gross saving is the remaining part of the gross disposable income not spent as final consumption expenditure). During periods of economic uncertainty, household saving rates may be expected to increase, as households might tend to save more when the risk of losing a job rises and they may defer expenditure on some or many non-essential goods and services (for example, the purchase of a new motor vehicle or a family holiday) until the economic situation improves. However, saving rates could also be influenced by negative changes in disposable income, which would lead to lower savings rates.
Households in the EU saved 13.2% of their disposable income in 2024
As can be observed in Figure 6, EU household saving rate was 14.5% in 2024, while the rate for the euro area was higher, at 15.2%.
The highest gross saving rates among the EU countries were recorded in Germany, Czechia, Malta and Hungary. There were 9 EU countries which recorded saving rates below 10.0% in 2024, below the EU average. Among them Romania and Greece had negative rates, which indicates that households spent more than their gross household disposable income and are therefore either using accumulated savings from previous periods or are borrowing to finance their expenditure.
Developments for household saving rates during the period 2014 to 2024 of the 4 largest EU economies are presented in Figure 7 alongside EU values.
Throughout this period, the rates in Germany and France were above the EU average. The household saving rate in Germany was the highest among these 4 large economies. It reached its peak at 23.2% in 2020 but dropped back gradually to 20.0% in 2024. France followed the same path as Germany, with its peak at 20.0% in 2020. In Italy and Spain, household saving rates remained consistently below the EU average, with Spain generally recording lower levels than Italy except in 2023 and 2024. Both countries experienced sharp increases in 2020, reflecting the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on consumption. Italy’s rate rose by 7.4 percentage points that year and reached 12.0% in 2024. Spain’s trend was more volatile, with a 9 point jump in 2020 to 17.6% and a subsequent decline, but by 2024 its saving rate of 12.7% was almost double the level recorded before the pandemic.
Household investment rate
The household investment rate is defined as gross fixed capital formation divided by gross disposable income. The major component of household gross fixed capital formation is the purchase and renovation of dwellings, while expenditure on consumer durables (such as passenger cars) is classified under final consumption instead, and financial investments are also excluded. The investment data presented here also cover investments made by unincorporated enterprises, principally small family businesses such as small shops or freelance workers.
This indicator is particularly useful for analysing developments in housing markets, including the sharp downturn linked to the subprime mortgage and credit crisis during the global financial and economic crisis.
Households in the EU invested 8.7% of their gross disposable income in 2024
Across the EU, households invested 8.7% of their gross household disposable income in 2024; this figure was slightly lower than the rate recorded in the euro area (9.1%). Household investment rates in the EU countries ranged from 15.0% in Cyprus, 12.3% in the Netherlands and 11.6% in Italy to 4.6% in Sweden and 4.7% in Latvia, as can be seen in Figure 8.
Figure 9 shows the development of household investment rates between 2004 and 2024. In the EU, the household investment rate oscillated between 8.0% and 10.0% during this time span, reaching 8.7% in 2024. In Italy, the investment rate followed the EU average until 2009, when it started to increase above this level. It then started declining from 2014 to below-average levels until 2020. It rose sharply thereafter, exceeding the EU average between 2010 and 2023 and recorded the highest values among the 4 largest EU economies, before easing again in 2024. Germany’s rate was comparatively stable, fluctuating between 8.0% and 10.0% throughout this period. It stayed persistently below EU level up until 2010. Then it surpassed the EU average reaching 9.1% in 2024. France exhibits a more stable pattern close to 9.0%–10.0%, with a modest rise around 2021–2022, then a slight decline to 8.2% in 2024. Spain experienced a steep fall after 2007, dropping from 15.8% to 4.9% in 2013. There has been a gradual recovery from 2017 onward, reaching around 7.1% by 2024, though still the lowest among the largest economies.
Data sources
The compilation of sector accounts follows the European system of accounts (ESA 2010). It provides the basis for all data for the EU, EFTA and enlargement countries.
The non-financial accounts Non-financial accounts provide a systematic description of the different stages of the economic process: production, generation and distribution, use and accumulation of income. Each of the accounts ends with a balancing item: value added, operating surplus, primary income, disposable income, saving, net lending/borrowing.
The household sector Institutional sectors within national accounts bring together economic units with broadly similar characteristics and behaviour. The household sector – which for the purpose of this article also includes non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) – is 1 of 4 sectors along with non-financial corporations, financial corporations and general government: together they make up the domestic economy.
Indicator definitions Gross disposable income is the result of all current transactions before consumption. In other words, it is the total amount of resources that a household has left available to spend or save once income taxes and pension contributions have been subtracted.
It excludes exceptional resources/uses such as capital transfers, holding gains/losses and the consequences of natural disasters. It reflects the net resources, earned during the period, which are available for consumption and/or saving. The information presented in this article concerns household disposable income adjusted to take account of social transfers in kind. The aggregate therefore consists of net wages, the gross operating surplus and mixed income, net property income (note that financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM) is a component reallocated from property income to consumption within national accounts), social benefits, social transfers in kind, and other transfers, reduced by any taxes paid and pension contributions.
The gross household saving rate is the ratio of gross saving to gross disposable income, the latter adjusted for the change in net equity of households in pension fund reserves to offset their impact on cross-country comparisons.
The gross household investment rate is the ratio of gross investment (gross fixed capital formation) to gross disposable income, the latter adjusted for the change in net equity of households in pension fund reserves.
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Other articles
Database
- Key indicators - annual data (nasa_10_ki)
- Non-financial transactions - annual data (nasa_10_nf_tr)
Thematic section
Methodology
External links
Selected datasets
- Adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita in PPS (tec00113)
- Household saving rate (tec00131)