Government transfers helped small HDB flat owners the most in 2012

1- and 2-room residents received $6,140 annually.

According to the "Key Household Income Trends 2012" report from the Department of Statistics, households in smaller types of dwelling received more government transfers than any other group.

"On average, resident households received $1,340 of transfers per member from various government schemes in 2012. Those in HDB 1- & 2-room flats received the most, at an annual average of $6,140 per household member, followed by those in HDB 3-room flats at $1,530 per household member on
average," the report said.

The report also found that government transfers had a redistributive effect on household income. The Gini coefficient, which is an indicator of inequality used when assessing economies, increased slightly from 0.473 in 2011 to 0.478 in 2012.

But after adjusting for Government transfers and taxes, the Gini coefficient in 2012 was lower at 0.459, reflecting the redistributive effect of government transfers.

"Internationally, there are differences in computation methods for Gini coefficients in different countries. Using the ‘modified OECD scale’ which is used for Gini coefficients in many of the developed countries, Singapore’s Gini would be 0.457 (before Government transfers and taxes) and 0.437 (after Government transfers and taxes) in 2012," the report said.

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