In 2012, many households (in 12 out of 22 countries), particularly in the euro area, saw declines in their real net adjusted disposable income. Income fell by -1.4% in the euro area (double the drop in GDP). The largest decline occurred in Greece (‑10.2%). In contrast, four countries recorded an increase in real household net adjusted disposable income above 2%: Norway (3.0%), Luxembourg (2.7%), Sweden (2.4%), and the United States (2.1%).

Between 2001 and 2011, housing consumption as a share of adjusted disposable income decreased in Estonia, Korea, Sweden and Norway. All the other countries showed an increase. The largest increases in the shares in the period 2001‑11 occurred in the United Kingdom, Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain and Italy.

Household saving rates differ significantly across countries. In 2011, largest saving rates of above 10% were recorded in Luxembourg, Switzerland, France, Germany and Sweden. Saving rates were slightly negative for Denmark and Poland (‑0.2%), whereas Greece reported a negative saving rate of ‑12.5% in 2011.

In 2011, five OECD countries recorded financial saving ratios above 8%: the United States (11.7%), Ireland (11.0%), Belgium (9.5%), Germany (8.3%) and Korea (8.1%). In contrast, there was financial dissaving in four countries: Hungary (-7.7%), Denmark (-2.4%), Norway (-1.5%) and Finland (-1.1%).

In 2010, among the countries for which data are available, Denmark recorded the highest value of dwellings owned by households per capita at USD 60 645 (the United Kingdom includes lands with dwellings); followed by France (USD 58 801) and Germany (USD 55 046). The lowest values of dwellings per capita were in Poland, at USD 5 627.

In 2011, the three OECD countries with the largest household holdings of financial assets per capita were the United States, Switzerland and the Netherlands. In all three countries, net equity in pension fund assets accounted for a substantial part of the portfolio.

In 2011, households remained highly indebted in a large number of OECD countries four years after the start of the global financial crisis, with an OECD average established at 135% of their net disposable income. The ratio was far higher than this average in Denmark (331%), the Netherlands (302%), Ireland (234%), Norway (209%) and Switzerland (201%). In contrast, the Slovak Republic had the lowest debt ratio at 49.4% in 2011.

In 2011, the financial net worth per capita of 15 countries were above the OECD average of USD 44 600 (for 31 OECD countries for which data are available). The United States and Switzerland recorded the highest financial net worth per capita, with figures above USD 110 000, more than double the OECD average. Estonia had the lowest financial net worth per capita at USD 8 042.

Comparisons between 2006 and 2011 show that household net worth as a percentage of disposable income fell in 13 out of 17 OECD countries for which data are available. The United States showed a considerable decrease of -123 percentage points, the largest decrease of the 17 countries. Among the countries recording increases in household net worth (the Czech Republic, France, Germany and the Netherlands), the largest increase was in Germany (34 percentage points).