Saturday, January 22, 2011

Nepali middle class and their expenditure

Middle Class and Expenditure in Nepal

HH Survey 2004/05 (means, 2005 PPP$) – per day

% of population

Total population (million)

Annual expenditure (billion)

$2-$4

16.74

4.45

4.32

$4-$10

5.3

1.41

2.91

$10-$20

0.85

0.23

1.09

Total

22.89

6.09

8.32

$20 plus

0.38

0.1

2.4

Middle class is defined as those earning between $2 and $20 (2005 PPP$)

Source: ADB 2010, p.46

The latest ADB’s report (Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2010) states that total annual expenditure of middle class (defined as having income between $2 and $20 per day at 2005 PPP$-- whose number is 6.09 million) is around US$8.32 billion. This is approximately 27 percent of total value of goods and services produced in the country (i.e. gross domestic product -- GDP). In Nepal, total consumption level is above 90% of GDP. Private consumption is close to 80% of GDP. The data are derived from household survey done in 2004/05. The figures should have increased substantially as remittances has increased drastically since five years back. I wonder how someone earning $2 a day falls under middle class. These people are hardly above the global poverty line. The authors of the report might have taken the lower bound of middle class projections/definitions in literature. But, this does not give the true economic strength and potential of the middle class. Anyway, the above figures give an indication of a rough estimate of the market strength of Nepali middle class.