Poor’s income rises 36 baht per month in 2023: NESDC

The overall monthly income of the poor rose by only 36 baht in 2023 from the previous year while the cost of living kept rising, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) found in a recent study.

The NESDC Office announced that its study found that poor families earned an average monthly income of 11,123 baht in 2023, compared with 11,087 baht in 2022.

This included non-monetary income, such freedom from home-rental expenses and the cost of food and drink. The NESDC Office explained that living in their own houses also counted as a cost poor families did not have to bear.

The NESDC Office added that average monthly income in monetary terms rose from 8,293 baht in 2022 to 8,365 baht, mostly due to increases of wages and salaries.

The NESDC Office said an average poor family had monthly expenses of 8,287 baht, or about 2,379 baht per family member. Most of the expense (54.27%) was for food and drink while 16.78% was for cost of residence and 11.40% for transport.

The NESDC Office said most poor families’ monetary income came from farming profits, wages and salaries and subsidies from the government.

As a result, poor families were vulnerable as their profits from farming were uncertain, the report added.

It said that since most expenses of poor families were for food, it would be almost impossible for them to save and try to improve their financial condition.

The NESDC Office added that almost one-fourth of poor families could not make ends meet even though the overall poverty situation in Thailand seemed to improve.

The report said about 158,000 poor families could not make ends meet, and they constituted 23.08% of all poor families in the kingdom.

That ratio rose from 18.77% in 2021. On average, their monthly expenses were about 1,456 baht higher than their income.

The report said the number of poor dropped from 3.79 million people in 2022 to 2.39 million in 2023. In other words, the percentage of poor fell from 5.43% in 2022 to 3.41% in 2023.

The report said the proportion of poor who received elderly allowance dropped from 96.16% in 2022 to 94.19% in 2023.

The report added that the proportion of the poor who received disabled allowance fell from 81.34% in 2022 to 73.85% in 2023.