REAL household income per capita, which provides a better picture of changes in people's economic well-being, rose by only 0.6 per cent in the OECD area despite a sharp 9.1 per cent rise in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in the October-December quarter of 2020-21, said the organisation on Thursday.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said their region figures were pulled down due to the marked decreases in income levels in the United States at negative 4.2 per cent and Canada, negative 3.6 per cent. These followed a marked, but short term, increase of 10.5 per cent and 11.2 per cent respectively, in the second quarter, predominantly due to large government transfers to households.

"In most OECD countries, however, the rebound of real GDP per capita in the third quarter of 2020 helped lift household income," it said.

The strong growth in household income in Italy (6.4 per cent), the United Kingdom (5.1 per cent), Germany (4.3 per cent) and France (3.5 per cent) followed consecutive falls in the first and second quarters of 2020 in all four countries.

Their third quarter increases, to a certain extent, reflect the strong growth in GDP per capita in France (18.4 per cent), Italy (16.1 per cent), the UK (15.9 per cent) and Germany (8.5 per cent), said the OECD.

The relatively sharp declines in the second quarter along with the strong rebounds are "examples of the high volatility currently being experienced in aggregate levels of household income in many countries as governments' fiscal policy responses to the crisis vary in their levels of support and duration," it added.

Across the OECD area, Chile reported the largest cumulative increase in real household income per capita (29.7 per cent), driven by the introduction of policies allowing households immediate access to pension funds during the third quarter of 2020.

Canada (7.9 per cent), Australia (6.9 per cent), the United States (6.5 per cent), Netherlands (4.5 per cent) and Poland (3.6 per cent) also recorded high accumulated growth in household incomes over the course of 2020, despite declines in their cumulative GDP, it said.