Taiwanese Household Wealth 3rd Among OECD Countries 2020我國每戶財富OECD排第3 數據民眾質疑

According to statistics released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics. Taiwan's average wealth per household based on purchasing power parity was US$798,000 in 2020. However, some people find this figure hard to believe.

The bustling vegetable market is crowded with shoppers in the morning, and their consumption power is astonishing. According to the data released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Taiwan's average wealth per household based on purchasing power parity was US$798,000 in 2020. This figure puts Taiwan in third place among OECD countries, ahead of the United States, Japan, and South Korea.

Citizen: “Do you believe it? I don't believe it.”

Citizen: “How is it possible? Like no one in our family is working and making money.”

KMT legislator Fai Hrong-tai asked DGBAS Minister Chu Tzer-ming whether he believed this statistic on the 28th.

Fai Hrong-tai, Legislator (KMT): “Can you believe we are the third richest country in the world? Do you believe it? But do you believe it? So do you believe it?”
Chu Tzer-ming, Minister, GBAS: “It's a net wealth calculation. I was surprised too, the first time I saw this value. ”

The OECD definition of "household total net worth," refers to the average household's financial and non-financial assets, minus the total value of outstanding liabilities of households. Scholars believe that Taiwan's prices are relatively lower than other advanced countries. For example, Taiwanese citizens can barely live on a monthly salary of NT$30,000. However, it probably couldn't last for a week in Western European countries if the same amount of money is converted into their local currencies.

Chiu Ta-sheng, Research Fellow, Dept. of Int'l Affairs, Taiwan Institute of Economic Research: “In many advanced countries per capita, income will decrease because of its relatively high prices. Many advanced countries also do not have the concept of saving. So if you consider these variables, I actually think this figure is quite possible.”

Nevertheless, such data still cannot convince Taiwanese citizens. Chu said frankly that he only knew this statistic after reading the report, but he emphasized that this is information based on legal sources and not for elections. He also promised that he will publish another report on family wealth statistics within three months.

早晨熱鬧的菜市場，攤位前面擠滿了婆婆媽媽，消費力驚人。根據主計總處公布數據，2020年台灣每戶財富達到79.8萬美元，如果依購買力平價PPP換算，在經濟合作暨發展組織OECD會員國中，排名第3，比美國、日韓等國家都還要更前面。

民眾說：「你相信嗎？我不相信。」

也有民眾認為：「哪有可能，像我們家都沒有人在賺錢怎麼講。」

除了民眾不相信，國民黨立委費鴻泰昨（28）日質詢，也問主計長朱澤民同樣的問題：「你相不相信我們是世界第三有錢的國家？你相不相信嘛？」

主計長朱澤民表示：「因為它是淨財富問題，這個我們的數值，我第一次看到，我也覺得很驚訝。 」

根據OECD「每戶財富」的定義，指的是平均每戶家庭持有的金融和非金融資產，減去負債的淨額。學者認為，台灣的物價相對其他先進國家的確比較低，舉例來說台灣月薪3萬勉強可以生活，但如果同樣3萬換算到西歐國家當地的貨幣，這種生活可能就撐不過一個禮拜。

台灣經濟研究院研究員邱達生指出：「很多先進國家因為它物價比較高，它的人均所得會減少，就沒有台灣這麼高之外，很多先進國家是沒有那種儲蓄的概念，那所以說這樣換算下來的話，其實我覺得可能性還滿高的。」

不過這樣的數據還是無法說服台灣民眾，朱澤民坦言看報導才知道，不過強調這是依據法源的國情通報資訊，並非為了選舉，但他也承諾3個月內，會針對家庭財富統計再提出報告說明。