Households income, Income distribution, Athens (Greece)
Abstract
The study of structure and distribution of households income at the level of the Greater Athens Area, provides an indication of differentials and inequalities on the welfare of its population. Using data from a study of the National Centre for Social Research on the determination of poverty lines, in this article is presented the structure and distribution of income in a representative household sample of this area. At a more analytical level we study income as relevant to certain household characteristics, as: size, household type, educational level of the head of household, etc.
To the knowledge that the social characteristics of the population at the greater Athens Area are differentiated even at smaller geographical units, we investigated the structure and distribution of income according to geographical areas divided on the basis of certain socioeconomic characteristics. In this analysis we similarly attempted an investigation of income according to a number of household characteristics applying to each geographical unit.
The general results showed that for the Greater Athens Area the net income represents 87.2% of the total income; the tenth population decile has a share in total income which is ten times greater than the share of the first population decile, while the graduation in the percentages of tax rates and insurance contributions is trivial. Further, the basic income source covering 50% of the total comes from salaries and wages.
Amongst the smaller geographical units of the Greater Athens Area we found that the most privileged ones in terms of income level are: the North-Northeast, South and Athens I, while there is no strong relationship between income and tax rates. The basic source of income in each unit comes from salaries and wages, as it was the case with the Greater Athens Area as well. Finally, there is evidence that the greatest income inequality appears at the South and Athens 1 areas.
