The term “low-income” is vague, due to there being a great degree of subjectivity regarding what would constitute a “low income”. In Singapore, a general metric to gauge if a person/family falls into the “low income” category would be if said person/family had a monthly household income of $1,900 and below or a per capita income of $650 and below.
ComCare Assistance scheme is one of the key government assistance programs in Singapore. The income criteria for ComCare assistance are based on the Monthly Household Income (MHI), which considers the total income of all working individuals in a household.
Households with a monthly household income below S$1,900 may be eligible for some form of ComCare assistance. However, it’s important to note that these income thresholds can change over time, and there might be different income thresholds for different assistance programs or housing subsidies.
Singapore’s government also utilizes other metrics like the Gini coefficient to measure income inequality and identify income disparity in the country. The Gini coefficient is a statistical measure that ranges from 0 to 1, where 0 represents perfect income equality, and 1 indicates maximum inequality. Singapore has been making efforts to address income inequality and uplift the well-being of low-income households through various social policies.