How Palauan households earn, spend and eat: A survey release sheds light on a diet heavy in rice, employment-driven incomes, and challenges with health and inequality, among other themes.
Palau’s Office of Planning and Statistics, with technical support from the Pacific Community (SPC), has released its 2023–24 household income and expenditure survey report—providing essential data for researchers, planners and policymakers on income, spending, food consumption and ways of life.
Key headlines include:
- The average monthly income per person is $1,074 (USD)
- Nearly two-thirds of income (64%) comes from employment, followed by property income
- The average monthly consumption spending per person is $972
- About one-third (35%) of spending goes on food and non-alcoholic beverages
- Three-quarters (76%) of adults are overweight or obese
- The average daily calorie intake is 2,837 kcal per person
- Rice is the most eaten food, with more than nine in 10 households (94%) having consumed rice in the week prior to being interviewed
- The Gini coefficient (income) is 0.34, indicating moderate inequality.
Conducted over a full year to allow for seasonal variation, Palau undertook this fourth household income and expenditure survey in 2023–24, using tablets for the first time in place of paper. Previous surveys took place in 2004, 2006 and 2013–14.
The survey gathered detailed insights into how households earn, spend and consume—covering everything from formal income and expenses to food grown at home. It also explored themes such as gender, education, health, work, transport, communication, and cash support like remittances.
The report breaks down the data by region, and offers a snapshot of Palau’s population and how it is structured by age groups and gender.
Balanced budgets
Palau’s economy is largely powered by employment, with nearly two-thirds of household income coming from sources like wages, salaries and business income. The average household earns $33,289 (USD) annually, with rural households slightly outpacing urban ones in income—although urban areas are home to four-fifths (80%) of the country’s population.
Spending patterns reflect these high incomes. Households spend an average of $32,834 annually, with 78% of expenditure being cash-based. Housing, utilities and food dominate the budget, followed by restaurants, transport then miscellaneous goods.
Imbalanced diets
Food and non-alcoholic drinks account for about one-third (35%) of consumption expenditure, making it the single-largest line item in household budgets. However, the nutritional profile of Palau’s diet has two-thirds of dietary energy coming from foods that should be limited or avoided according to World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. Rice is a pantry staple, consumed by 94% of Palauan households.
Fruit and vegetable consumption averages 240 grams per day, well below the WHO’s recommended 400 grams.
Rural households fare slightly better, consuming more local produce and fish, but—as with many other Pacific Island countries and territories—the picture is a diet high in calories but low in nutritional diversity.
In terms of drinking water, 91% of the population has access to an improved drinking-water source but only 61% have access to safely managed sanitation services.
About three-quarters (76%) of adults are overweight or obese, a figure that has risen since 2016 and linked to these dietary patterns.
Moderate inequality
Income inequality remains moderate in Palau, reflected in its Gini coefficient, a standard measure that distils the complexity of income distribution into a single number. It is calculated by comparing the actual spread of income with a perfectly equal distribution; a score of 0 would indicate total equality while a score of 1 would signal that a single individual controls all income.
At 0.34, Palau’s score suggests a society with moderate income gaps: the bottom 20% of the population receives 9% of total income, while the top 20% receives 42%.
Urban and rural, private vs barracks
Urban households earn just slightly more than rural ones but spend more on housing, utilities and dining out. Rural households are more engaged in primary activities like agriculture and fishing, and rely more on home production and gifts.
Barracks dwellers—mostly migrant workers—make up 15% of the population. Barracks dwellers have lower incomes and access more affordable sources of dietary energy, but face limited dietary diversity and housing conditions.
Data for decision-making
The data from the 2023–24 survey will help update Palau’s consumer price index, tracking changes in the cost of goods and services.
The survey release will also strengthen national economic statistics, and provide a clearer picture of household welfare and food security. It will feed into global development indicators under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and support evidence-based policymaking.
“Running a new household income and expenditure survey in Palau after 10 years was essential,” said Mr Olivier Menaouer, Statistics Analyst with SPC’s Statistics for Development Division.
“Good data leads to good decisions. By investing in quality surveys like the HIES, Palau is setting itself up to plan well for the future.”
- Read the Palau 2023–24 household income and expenditure survey report (PDF)
- Read the Palau food consumption factsheet (PDF)
For more information on this story, contact Mr Ben Campion, Communications Adviser, Statistics for Development Division, Pacific Community (SPC).
Top photo by Asian Development Bank.
