New ECB statistics provide details on private wealth distribution

  • From Sonja Hennen
  • Reading duration 2 min

New statistics recently presented by the European Central Bank (ECB) are intended to increase the transparency of private wealth in the eurozone. The data provides an insight into the current distribution of income, debt, property and share ownership and shows interactions with monetary policy.

The ECB plans to publish quarterly information on the wealth distribution of private households in its new "distribution-based wealth balance sheet" statistics. The Distributional Wealth Accounts (DWA) are a response to the ECB's revised monetary policy strategy in 2021. The updated data should make it possible to analyse the impact of factors such as real estate assets and the increase in the value of listed shares on the wealth distribution of private households.

In order to create a comprehensive database, the DWA combines the results of the Eurosystem's Household Finance and Consumption Survey with macroeconomic data from all sectors. In addition to private households, this also includes non-financial and financial corporations, the entire state including statutory social insurance, private non-profit organisations and the "rest of the world". The figures are updated every five months after the end of the observation period.

The DWA makes it possible to provide comparable data for Germany and other eurozone countries by combining and analysing various pieces of information. In future, this should make changes in the distribution of capital between private households more visible and close a data gap that has existed to date.

The statistics differentiate between households in the top five deciles (D6 to D10) of the net wealth distribution and the less wealthy half (D1 to D5), as well as by employment status and housing situation. The data provides information, for example, on how high the individual deciles' shares of net wealth are - or how consumers in different income and wealth groups invest their money.

This means that inequality has decreased slightly in a five-year comparison. However, this is mainly due to rising property prices, which increased the net wealth of property owners.